Semanteon Capital Management LP Buys Shares of 13,774 Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 13,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,213,000. Exponent makes up 0.8% of Semanteon Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Exponent by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,685,472 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $401,076,000 after purchasing an additional 408,295 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Exponent by 89.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 594,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $50,876,000 after purchasing an additional 280,600 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Exponent by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 458,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,286,000 after purchasing an additional 114,853 shares during the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Exponent during the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,091,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Exponent by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 693,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,343,000 after buying an additional 71,074 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Exponent from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised Exponent from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exponent news, insider Eric Guyer sold 3,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.49, for a total transaction of $264,275.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Exponent Stock Performance

Exponent stock traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $79.68. 473,229 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 303,890. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 40.86 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.92. Exponent, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.61 and a fifty-two week high of $101.65.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $113.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.11 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 28.49% and a net margin of 18.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. This is an increase from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.44%.

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.