Catherine Corrigan Sells 3,225 Shares of Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) Stock

Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 3,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.74, for a total value of $228,136.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 84,134 shares in the company, valued at $5,951,639.16. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Catherine Corrigan also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 17th, Catherine Corrigan sold 4,900 shares of Exponent stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.39, for a total value of $344,911.00.
• On Wednesday, October 15th, Catherine Corrigan sold 4,930 shares of Exponent stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.82, for a total value of $329,422.60.

Exponent Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ EXPO traded down $0.48 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $74.20. The company had a trading volume of 476,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,986. Exponent, Inc. has a 12-month low of $63.81 and a 12-month high of $97.57. The business’s 50-day moving average is $70.08 and its 200 day moving average is $71.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 36.20 and a beta of 0.82.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Exponent had a return on equity of 24.77% and a net margin of 18.35%.The firm had revenue of $147.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Exponent’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exponent

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPO. Vest Financial LLC bought a new stake in Exponent in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,069,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exponent in the 2nd quarter worth $330,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 17.6% in the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 596,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,442,000 after acquiring an additional 89,334 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Exponent by 25.1% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 638,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,671,000 after acquiring an additional 128,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in Exponent by 13.9% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of Exponent in a research note on Monday. Finally, William Blair upgraded Exponent from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

About Exponent

Exponent, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a science and engineering consulting company in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Engineering and Other Scientific, and Environmental and Health. The Engineering and Other Scientific segment provides services in the areas of biomechanics, biomedical engineering and sciences, buildings and structures, civil engineering, construction consulting, data sciences, electrical engineering and computer science, human factors, materials and corrosion engineering, mechanical engineering, polymer science and materials chemistry, thermal sciences, and vehicle engineering.