Bayforest Capital Ltd Acquires New Holdings in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired 5,149 shares of Exponent, Inc. for approximately $417,000 during the first quarter, as indicated by their recent SEC filing.
• Exponent announced a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.7%, payable on September 19th.
• Exponent, Inc. reported $0.52 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and had a net margin of 18.35%.

Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,149 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $417,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of Exponent during the 1st quarter worth about $270,000. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of Exponent during the 1st quarter worth about $634,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exponent by 543.1% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 305,230 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $24,742,000 after acquiring an additional 257,766 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Exponent during the 1st quarter worth about $12,686,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exponent by 45.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 83,192 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,744,000 after acquiring an additional 26,120 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exponent Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of EXPO stock traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $69.58. 165,567 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 330,366. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.79 and a beta of 0.94. Exponent, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.81 and a 1 year high of $115.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $71.62 and a 200 day moving average of $76.15.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. Exponent had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The firm had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. Exponent's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Exponent's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Joseph Sala sold 1,595 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.64, for a total transaction of $112,670.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,896 shares of Exponent stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.09, for a total transaction of $348,056.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,782,602.78. This represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.