Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $20.76 Million Investment in ESCO Technologies Inc. $ESE

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc purchased 59,316 ESCO Technologies shares worth approximately $20.76 million, giving it about a 0.23% stake. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 95.70% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $416.50. Recent ratings included Deutsche Bank’s $413 target and JPMorgan’s $420 target, although some firms lowered their recommendations.
• ESCO reported quarterly EPS of $2.20, exceeding estimates by $0.08, while revenue rose 14.4% year over year to $339.03 million. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, representing a 0.1% yield.

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 59,316 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $20,763,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.23% of ESCO Technologies at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ESCO Technologies in the second quarter worth approximately $1,433,229,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in ESCO Technologies by 97,963,600.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,938,911 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $574,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,938,908 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in ESCO Technologies by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,050,093 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $205,178,000 after purchasing an additional 158,949 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in ESCO Technologies by 103.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 902,956 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $176,429,000 after purchasing an additional 458,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ESCO Technologies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 633,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $123,861,000 after purchasing an additional 20,071 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of ESCO Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $413.00 price target on shares of ESCO Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on ESCO Technologies in a research report on Monday, June 15th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered ESCO Technologies from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $416.50.

ESCO Technologies Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:ESE opened at $277.32 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $318.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $302.61. ESCO Technologies Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.68 and a 12 month high of $362.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.08. ESCO Technologies had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 24.39%.The business had revenue of $339.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. ESCO Technologies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.300-8.400 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.550-2.650 EPS. Analysts expect that ESCO Technologies Inc. will post 8.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ESCO Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. ESCO Technologies's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.64%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ESE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source