Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 27.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,730 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Exponent were worth $1,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,595 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 6.7% in the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 2,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 1.7% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,065,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 6.5% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,482 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 6.0% in the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exponent Stock Up 19.5 %

NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $95.21 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.09 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.94. Exponent, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.61 and a twelve month high of $102.72.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $137.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.98 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 28.50% and a net margin of 18.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on EXPO shares. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Exponent from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exponent from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other Exponent news, insider Eric Guyer sold 3,367 shares of the firm’s 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 is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Company Profile

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.