Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) Shares Acquired by Tortoise Investment Management LLC

Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 76.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 440 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Exponent were worth $39,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EXPO. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Exponent in the 4th quarter valued at about $55,131,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Exponent by 63.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 630,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,701,000 after acquiring an additional 245,086 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Exponent by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,505,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $173,597,000 after acquiring an additional 69,099 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Exponent by 219.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 96,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,127,000 after acquiring an additional 66,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Exponent by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 342,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,548,000 after purchasing an additional 62,760 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other news, VP Richard Reiss sold 1,736 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.93, for a total transaction of $149,174.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,674. The trade was a 49.10 % decrease in their position. 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 insiders.

Exponent Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of EXPO opened at $83.09 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19 and a beta of 0.77. Exponent, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.21 and a twelve month high of $115.75.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.06. Exponent had a return on equity of 27.27% and a net margin of 19.52%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. This is an increase from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is 56.60%.

Exponent 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.