Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) Short Interest Down 7.7% in August

Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,550,000 shares, a decrease of 7.7% from the August 15th total of 1,680,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 200,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP John Pye sold 3,956 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $415,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,984,310. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exponent

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the 2nd quarter valued at $293,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Exponent in the 2nd quarter valued at about $146,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Exponent in the second quarter valued at about $1,704,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Exponent during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Exponent by 56.5% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,624,000 after acquiring an additional 6,164 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Price Performance

Exponent stock traded up $0.14 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $108.49. 168,900 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 253,992. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.14. The company has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.79 and a beta of 0.66. Exponent has a 52-week low of $64.61 and a 52-week high of $110.84.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $132.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Exponent will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Exponent’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

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.