Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,550,000 shares, a decrease of 7.7% from the August 15th total of 1,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 200,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.7 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John Pye sold 3,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $415,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,984,310. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exponent

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exponent during the second quarter worth $293,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Exponent during the second quarter worth about $146,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Exponent during the second quarter worth about $1,704,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Exponent in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its stake in Exponent by 56.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,624,000 after acquiring an additional 6,164 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Exponent in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Exponent Price Performance

Exponent stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $108.49. 168,899 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 253,992. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $104.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.14. The firm has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.05 and a beta of 0.66. Exponent has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $110.77.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $132.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.83 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 28.39% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Exponent will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.57%.

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.