Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $1.79 Million Position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. cut its position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 27.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,730 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Exponent were worth $1,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exponent by 9.5% in 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 buying an additional 408,295 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Exponent by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,451,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,813,000 after buying an additional 7,032 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 71,074 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 valued at $50,876,000 after purchasing an additional 280,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 484,488 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,472,000 after purchasing an additional 10,046 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EXPO shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of 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 shares of 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.49, for a total transaction of $264,275.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Trading Up 19.5 %

Shares of Exponent stock opened at $95.21 on Friday. Exponent, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $102.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 48.09 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $79.93 and its 200 day moving average is $81.94.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.13. Exponent had a net margin of 18.72% and a return on equity of 28.50%. The firm had revenue of $137.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Exponent’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

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.