Capital Investment Counsel Inc Cuts Position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc reduced its holdings in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 12.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Exponent were worth $361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Exponent by 63.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 630,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $72,701,000 after purchasing an additional 245,086 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exponent during the third quarter worth about $11,261,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,505,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $173,597,000 after buying an additional 69,099 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 219.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 96,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,127,000 after buying an additional 66,263 shares during the period. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Exponent by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 342,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,548,000 after buying an additional 62,760 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Stock Performance

Exponent stock opened at $85.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 40.33 and a beta of 0.71. Exponent, Inc. has a one year low of $75.81 and a one year high of $115.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $90.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.70.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.06. Exponent had a net margin of 19.52% and a return on equity of 27.27%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. This is a positive change from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Exponent’s payout ratio is currently 52.83%.

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.