Hsbc Holdings PLC Trims Stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 44.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,375 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Exponent were worth $603,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exponent during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Exponent during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 157.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Exponent by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Exponent by 24.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXPO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exponent from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Exponent from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other news, insider Eric Guyer sold 1,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $152,757.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,902.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 5,030 shares of company stock worth $418,242 over the last 90 days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Exponent Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPO traded up $1.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $94.33. 218,679 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 303,196. The stock has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of 47.64 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $81.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.05. Exponent, Inc. has a one year low of $64.61 and a one year high of $102.72.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $137.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.98 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 28.13% and a net margin of 18.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Exponent’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

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.