Deutsche Bank AG Buys Shares of 55,970 Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 55,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,289,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its position in Exponent by 423.6% during the first quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Exponent in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Exponent by 86.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Exponent by 37.1% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 717 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Exponent by 54.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on EXPO shares. UBS Group set a $72.00 target price on Exponent and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Exponent from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Friday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Exponent currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,119 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $235,318.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 106,670 shares in the company, valued at $6,094,057.10. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Exponent Stock Performance

Shares of EXPO opened at $70.34 on Thursday. Exponent, Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.91 and a 52 week high of $81.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $63.75 and a 200-day moving average of $64.54.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $171.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.99 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 31.48% and a net margin of 17.67%.Exponent’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.61%.

About Exponent

Exponent, Inc (NASDAQ: EXPO) is an engineering and scientific consulting firm that offers multidisciplinary analysis and advisory services to clients across a range of industries. The company’s expertise spans mechanical, materials and corrosion engineering, civil and structural engineering, electrical engineering, industrial hygiene, toxicology and health sciences, and failure analysis. Exponent provides support for product design, performance evaluation, litigation consulting, and regulatory compliance, helping manufacturers, insurers, law firms and government agencies address complex technical challenges.

Founded in 1967 in Menlo Park, California, Exponent has grown from a small failure-analysis laboratory into a global consulting practice.