Truist Financial Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Truist Financial reissued their buy rating on shares of Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $120.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $100.00.

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXPO opened at $105.14 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.53. Exponent has a fifty-two week low of $64.61 and a fifty-two week high of $108.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.10 and a beta of 0.65.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.07. Exponent had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 28.39%. The business had revenue of $132.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Exponent’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Exponent will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exponent news, Director Paul R. Johnston sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.50, for a total value of $668,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 80,742 shares in the company, valued at $7,710,861. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Paul R. Johnston sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.11, for a total transaction of $570,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 79,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,536,135.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul R. Johnston sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.50, for a total transaction of $668,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 80,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,710,861. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 48,417 shares of company stock worth $4,582,238. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exponent

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Exponent by 67.7% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 379 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Exponent by 866.0% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 512 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Exponent by 166.5% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Exponent by 293.7% in the first quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 626 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Exponent in the fourth quarter valued at $69,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% 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.