Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $784,000 Stock Holdings in ESCO Technologies Inc. $ESE

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its stake in ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE) by 51.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,876 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in ESCO Technologies were worth $784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of ESCO Technologies by 345.8% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 707,244 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $135,699,000 after acquiring an additional 548,600 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC grew its stake in ESCO Technologies by 92.5% in the third quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 311,910 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $65,847,000 after purchasing an additional 149,918 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC increased its position in ESCO Technologies by 60.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 303,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $58,262,000 after purchasing an additional 113,940 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in ESCO Technologies by 94.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 185,928 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,674,000 after purchasing an additional 90,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ESCO Technologies during the 2nd quarter worth about $17,084,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on ESE. Weiss Ratings cut ESCO Technologies from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ESCO Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of ESCO Technologies to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, CJS Securities upgraded shares of ESCO Technologies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ESCO Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $187.50.

ESCO Technologies Stock Up 2.8%

ESE opened at $226.69 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $207.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.31. ESCO Technologies Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.59 and a twelve month high of $229.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63 and a beta of 1.23.

ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.19. ESCO Technologies had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 25.76%.The company had revenue of $286.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. ESCO Technologies has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.350 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-7.800 EPS. Research analysts forecast that ESCO Technologies Inc. will post 5.65 EPS for the current year.

ESCO Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. ESCO Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 2.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Bryan H. Sayler sold 401 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $88,220.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,455,880. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vinod M. Khilnani sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.99, for a total value of $653,970.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,461,819.32. This represents a 12.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 21,699 shares of company stock valued at $4,778,734 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ESCO Technologies Company Profile

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.