AQR Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 73.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,265 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,940 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.13% of Exponent worth $6,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Exponent by 67.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 379 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Exponent by 866.0% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 512 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 166.5% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Exponent by 293.7% in the first quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 626 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Exponent during the first quarter valued at $75,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Exponent Stock Performance

EXPO stock opened at $113.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.35 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $106.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.55. Exponent, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.61 and a 52-week high of $115.61.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last released its 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 the consensus estimate of $130.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other news, VP John Pye sold 3,956 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $415,380.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 28,422 shares in the company, valued at $2,984,310. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.