Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in ESCO Technologies Inc. $ESE

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE) by 9.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,775 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,075 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.32% of ESCO Technologies worth $17,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of ESCO Technologies by 345.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 707,244 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $135,699,000 after buying an additional 548,600 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new position in ESCO Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $93,728,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in ESCO Technologies by 92.5% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 149,918 shares during the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in ESCO Technologies by 60.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 113,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in ESCO Technologies by 94.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 90,528 shares in the last quarter. 95.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESE. CJS Securities upgraded shares of ESCO Technologies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research upgraded ESCO Technologies to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings cut ESCO Technologies from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered ESCO Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $200.00.

ESCO Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESE opened at $270.60 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $242.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.02. ESCO Technologies Inc. has a 52-week low of $134.78 and a 52-week high of $291.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.03 and a beta of 1.16.

ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $289.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $289.30 million. ESCO Technologies had a return on equity of 12.55% and a net margin of 25.28%.The business’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. 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 forecast that ESCO Technologies Inc. will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current year.

ESCO Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. ESCO Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.72%.

ESCO Technologies 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.