Short Interest in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) Expands By 10.3%

Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,710,000 shares, a growth of 10.3% from the August 31st total of 1,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 201,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.5 days. Currently, 3.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other Exponent news, VP John Pye sold 3,956 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 28,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,984,310. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exponent

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Exponent during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Exponent by 67.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 379 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Exponent by 866.0% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 512 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Exponent by 166.5% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Exponent by 293.7% during the 1st quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 626 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Exponent in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Exponent Price Performance

Exponent stock traded down $2.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $113.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 169,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,868. Exponent has a 52-week low of $64.61 and a 52-week high of $115.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.16 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.42.

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

Exponent Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Exponent’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

About Exponent

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.