Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $44.44 Million Stake in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 17.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 596,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,334 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Exponent were worth $44,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Exponent by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 829 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Exponent by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,678 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in Exponent by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 12,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $989,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC lifted its position in Exponent by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 3,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Exponent by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 62,029 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,634,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Insider Transactions at Exponent

In related news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.82, for a total value of $329,422.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 82,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,529,555.46. The trade was a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Joseph Sala sold 1,595 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.64, for a total transaction of $112,670.80. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 16,326 shares of company stock worth $1,133,059. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Exponent Stock Performance

Shares of EXPO opened at $73.66 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.83 and a beta of 0.91. Exponent, Inc. has a 52 week low of $63.81 and a 52 week high of $112.75.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $137.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.78 million. Exponent had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Exponent’s payout ratio is presently 58.54%.

Exponent announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.