66,842 Shares in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO Bought by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 66,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,928,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent during the second quarter worth approximately $363,428,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Exponent by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,392,499 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,183,000 after acquiring an additional 31,303 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Exponent by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,154,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,172,000 after acquiring an additional 39,865 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Exponent by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 964,814 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,954,000 after purchasing an additional 66,471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Exponent by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 918,885 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,958,000 after purchasing an additional 20,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 1,707 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.28, for a total value of $113,139.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,557,278.24. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Price Performance

NASDAQ EXPO opened at $71.53 on Friday. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.91 and a 12 month high of $81.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.08 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $64.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.53.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Exponent had a return on equity of 31.48% and a net margin of 17.67%.The company had revenue of $171.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Exponent’s payout ratio is 55.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on EXPO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Exponent from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $72.00 price objective on Exponent and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Exponent Company Profile

Exponent, Inc (NASDAQ: EXPO) is an engineering and scientific consulting firm that offers multidisciplinary analysis and advisory services to clients across a range of industries. The company’s expertise spans mechanical, materials and corrosion engineering, civil and structural engineering, electrical engineering, industrial hygiene, toxicology and health sciences, and failure analysis. Exponent provides support for product design, performance evaluation, litigation consulting, and regulatory compliance, helping manufacturers, insurers, law firms and government agencies address complex technical challenges.

Founded in 1967 in Menlo Park, California, Exponent has grown from a small failure-analysis laboratory into a global consulting practice.