Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases New Position in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 88,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,742,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Exponent by 423.6% during the 1st quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Exponent by 86.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Exponent by 37.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 717 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Exponent by 129.0% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Exponent by 54.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 904 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of Exponent stock opened at $66.89 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.05. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.91 and a 12 month high of $81.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.00 and a beta of 0.68.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Exponent had a return on equity of 31.48% and a net margin of 17.67%.The firm had revenue of $171.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Exponent’s payout ratio is 55.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other news, VP Bradley A. James sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.47, for a total value of $114,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 1,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,504.35. This trade represents a 64.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,119 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $235,318.47. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 106,670 shares in the company, valued at $6,094,057.10. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,324 shares of company stock worth $855,019. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXPO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Exponent from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $72.00 price target on Exponent and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exponent currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.00.

Exponent Company Profile

Exponent, Inc (NASDAQ: EXPO) is an engineering and scientific consulting firm that offers multidisciplinary analysis and advisory services to clients across a range of industries. The company’s expertise spans mechanical, materials and corrosion engineering, civil and structural engineering, electrical engineering, industrial hygiene, toxicology and health sciences, and failure analysis. Exponent provides support for product design, performance evaluation, litigation consulting, and regulatory compliance, helping manufacturers, insurers, law firms and government agencies address complex technical challenges.

Founded in 1967 in Menlo Park, California, Exponent has grown from a small failure-analysis laboratory into a global consulting practice.