Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Position in ESCO Technologies Inc. $ESE

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,876,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 72,332 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of ESCO Technologies worth $561,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in ESCO Technologies by 26.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 891,144 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $188,129,000 after purchasing an additional 183,900 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in ESCO Technologies during the third quarter worth $93,728,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in ESCO Technologies by 1,204.3% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 432,050 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $91,210,000 after purchasing an additional 398,926 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in ESCO Technologies by 21.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 369,218 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $77,946,000 after purchasing an additional 64,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its position in shares of ESCO Technologies by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 363,372 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $76,711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares during the last quarter. 95.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESE has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of ESCO Technologies in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded ESCO Technologies from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded ESCO Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $300.00.

ESCO Technologies Stock Up 0.2%

ESE stock opened at $327.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.89, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.33. ESCO Technologies Inc. has a one year low of $161.61 and a one year high of $330.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $289.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $244.15.

ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $289.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $289.30 million. ESCO Technologies had a net margin of 25.28% and a return on equity of 12.55%. ESCO Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. ESCO Technologies has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.750-1.850 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.900-8.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ESCO Technologies Inc. will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

ESCO Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. ESCO Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 2.72%.

About ESCO Technologies

ESCO Technologies Inc is a diversified manufacturer of engineered products and systems designed to meet customers’ critical performance requirements in the test, measurement, control, and filtration of data, fluids, and gases. The company serves a wide range of end markets, including commercial aerospace, defense, industrial, medical, and communication network sectors. ESCO’s solutions are tailored to environments where reliability, precision and regulatory compliance are paramount.

Operating through multiple business segments, ESCO Technologies delivers test and measurement instruments such as RF and microwave components, signal distribution systems, and integrated test enclosures that support defense and aerospace programs.