Nicholas Company Inc. Has $6.68 Million Holdings in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Nicholas Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,990 shares during the period. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Exponent were worth $6,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Exponent by 543.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 305,230 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,742,000 after purchasing an additional 257,766 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exponent in the first quarter worth $15,349,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Exponent by 11.2% in the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,745,828 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $141,517,000 after purchasing an additional 176,152 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Exponent in the first quarter worth $12,686,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Exponent in the second quarter worth $9,993,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Exponent Trading Up 6.0%

Shares of EXPO opened at $70.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.41 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.02. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $63.81 and a 12 month high of $112.75.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $137.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.78 million. Exponent had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is 58.54%.

Exponent declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.82, for a total transaction of $329,422.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 82,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,529,555.46. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Joseph Sala sold 1,595 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.64, for a total transaction of $112,670.80. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 16,326 shares of company stock worth $1,133,059 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.