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

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Exponent, Inc. by purchasing 13,214 shares valued at approximately $1,071,000 during the first quarter.
• Exponent reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.52, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.48, alongside a revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.7%, set to be paid on September 19th to shareholders of record on September 5th.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 13,214 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,071,000.

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

Insider Transactions at Exponent

In related news, VP Bradley A. James sold 2,694 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.52, for a total transaction of $214,226.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Joseph Rakow sold 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.72, for a total value of $122,253.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,267 shares of company stock valued at $489,120 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Exponent Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Exponent stock traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $70.99. The stock had a trading volume of 79,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 309,938. Exponent, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.81 and a 1 year high of $115.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.53 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.74.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $130.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. Exponent's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Exponent's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.00%.

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.