Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 13,214 Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,214 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,071,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,248,000. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exponent by 14.8% in the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the first quarter valued at approximately $417,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the first quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,171,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Trading Up 3.3%

NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $70.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.29 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.00. Exponent, Inc. has a 12-month low of $63.81 and a 12-month high of $115.75.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. Exponent had a return on equity of 24.19% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $130.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. Exponent’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other Exponent news, VP Joseph Rakow sold 1,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.72, for a total value of $122,253.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP John Pye sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.32, for a total value of $152,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 29,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,228,849.28. This trade represents a 6.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 6,267 shares of company stock valued at $489,120. 1.60% 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.