Raymond James & Associates Purchases 20,527 Shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 507,562 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 20,527 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 1.00% of Exponent worth $58,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Exponent by 1.3% during the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 7,615 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $724,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in Exponent by 0.3% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 63,568 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,256,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in Exponent by 2.8% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 6,230 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Exponent in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Activity at Exponent

In related news, VP John Pye sold 3,956 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $415,380.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 28,422 shares in the company, valued at $2,984,310. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Exponent Stock Down 2.3 %

EXPO traded down $2.52 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $107.53. The company had a trading volume of 239,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 247,052. The company has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.31 and a beta of 0.66. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $108.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.62. Exponent, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.61 and a 52 week high of $115.75.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $130.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Exponent's payout ratio is currently 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.