Sapient Capital LLC Invests $526,000 in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $526,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Exponent by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 40,168 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,438,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Exponent by 43.3% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,211 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Exponent by 8.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 288,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,674,000 after buying an additional 22,559 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exponent by 6.0% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exponent during the third quarter worth approximately $715,000. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on EXPO. StockNews.com raised Exponent from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Exponent from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th.

Exponent Stock Performance

Exponent stock opened at $94.33 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $81.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.64 and a beta of 0.64. Exponent, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.61 and a 52 week high of $102.72.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.13. Exponent had a return on equity of 28.13% and a net margin of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $137.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $125.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In related news, insider Eric Guyer sold 3,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.49, for a total transaction of $264,275.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 5,030 shares of company stock valued at $418,242 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

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.