Nicholas Company Inc. Purchases 8,990 Shares of Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Nicholas Company Inc. increased its holdings in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 11.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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. owned 0.18% of Exponent worth $6,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Exponent by 21.7% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 829 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in shares of Exponent by 1.7% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 12,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $989,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC raised its position in shares of Exponent by 5.5% in the first quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 3,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of Exponent by 0.4% in the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 62,029 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,634,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Exponent by 10,200.0% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of EXPO opened at $70.81 on Friday. Exponent, Inc. has a one year low of $63.81 and a one year high of $112.75. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.41 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.02.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Exponent had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The business had revenue of $137.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Exponent’s payout ratio is currently 58.54%.

Exponent declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Exponent

In other Exponent news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.82, for a total transaction of $329,422.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 82,753 shares in the company, valued at $5,529,555.46. The trade was a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Joseph Sala sold 1,595 shares of the business’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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,326 shares of company stock valued at $1,133,059. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.