State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Acquires 2,088 Shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,088 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Exponent were worth $1,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Heritage Family Offices LLP increased its holdings in shares of Exponent by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 3,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exponent by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,574 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Exponent by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,512 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Exponent in the third quarter worth $26,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exponent by 2.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,284,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Stock Performance

Exponent stock opened at $84.52 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.87 and a beta of 0.71. Exponent, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.81 and a fifty-two week high of $115.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $90.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.54.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.06. Exponent had a return on equity of 27.27% and a net margin of 19.52%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.