Victory Capital Management Inc. has recently taken a step towards expanding its stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by raising its holdings by 37.1% during the fourth quarter, making an additional acquisition of 25,321 shares in the business services provider’s stock, according to the most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As one of the premier institutional investment management firms in America, Victory Capital Management has now raised its stakes in Exponent by almost $9.4 million.
Although several equity analysts have issued reports on the stocks of Exponent recently, StockNews.com maintained a “hold” rating for the organization while TheStreet downgraded it from “b” to “c+”. Notably, EXPO witnessed an opening of $89.55 today with a low of $80.97 and a high of $112.75 within this past year.
Exhibiting a market cap worth nearly $4.55 billion and holding an encouraging P/E ratio of 45.69 along with a healthy beta standing at 0.64, Exponent remains ordinary as far as its moving average is concerned; holding at $93.85 for its 50-day moving average point and similarly at $99.31 for the 200-day moving average mark.
Victory Capital Management Inc.’s decision to acquire additional shares only signifies their confidence in Exponent’s potential growth over time amidst difficult conditions created by COVID-19 challenging numerous avenues across global landscapes; more specifically, markets where businesses operate facing significant financial woes as operational concerns remain both burdensome and uncertain.
In conclusion, retaining such faith amid concurrent uncertainties, speaks volumes regarding Victory Capital Management’s foresight – setting benchmarks catalysing new norms welcoming optimism within markets swathing different demographics while aiding reliable businesses prosper despite procedural discrepancies dwelling globally.
Institutional Investors Make Moves in Exponent Holdings, whilst Equities Analysts Urge Caution
Exponent, the business services provider, has recently undergone a great deal of activity with regards to changes in its holdings. Several institutional investors and hedge funds have seen changes to their positions in the company, including Citadel Advisors LLC, Great Lakes Advisors LLC, State Street Corp, Assenagon Asset Management S.A., and California Public Employees Retirement System.
Citadel Advisors LLC grew its holding by 550.2% in Q2 of 2017, now owning $15.8m worth of shares after purchasing an additional 146,028 shares in the last quarter alone; whilst Great Lakes Advisors LLC began a new position in Exponent during Q3 of 2017 worth $7.4m.
State Street Corp increased its holdings by 3.7% in Q1 of 2017 now owning $182m worth of shares after purchasing an additional 60,343 shares; so too did Assenagon Asset Management S.A., who purchased a new position valued at around $5.9m at the beginning of this year.
California Public Employees Retirement System was another investor that raised its stake in Exponent to be valued at around $17.4m after buying an additional 53,390 shares during Q4 of last year.
It is important to note that institutional investors own a significant portion – approximately 91% – of Exponent’s stock.
In other news surrounding Exponent Inc., VP Joseph Rakow sold over a thousand shares amounting to around $120k on May the 11th and VP Richard Reiss sold almost thrice as many shares as Rakow next month for just over half-a-million dollars’IPO-HQ ROUNDS OUT CORPORATE FINANCE TEAM’.
Despite these corporate developments taking place behind closed doors or falling under most peoples’ radars entirely, equities analysts have been closely watching Exponent’s activity within recent months and publicly weighing in via StockNews.com on the matter urging to “hold” the company, and TheStreet lowering their rating on Exponent from a “b” to a “c+”.
Exponent’s has also recently released its quarterly earnings report showing revenue for Q1 of 2017 equating to $140.3 million and earnings per share at 56 cents – in line with what analysts predicted. However, this is still an increase compared to the same quarter last year by around 19%. Exponent plans on posting earnings per share around 2.1 for this fiscal year.
Furthermore, it was announced recently that its shareholders would receive a dividend payout every quarter staring from June, equating to $0.26 per share held by each shareholder of record on June 9th, with the ex-dividend date being June 8th. The current dividend payout ratio (DPR) is expected to be around 53%.
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