Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 70,519 Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 70,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,144,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPO. Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its position in Exponent by 423.6% during the first quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Exponent in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Exponent by 86.1% during the 4th 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. grew its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Exponent by 54.8% in 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 last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Exponent Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $68.35 on Friday. Exponent, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.91 and a 12-month high of $81.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.46. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.65 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Exponent’s payout ratio is 55.61%.

Insider Transactions at Exponent

In related news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,119 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $235,318.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 106,670 shares in the company, valued at $6,094,057.10. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Exponent and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Exponent from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.