Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 2,361 ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,361 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in ESCO Technologies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,854,595 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $209,641,000 after buying an additional 47,047 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of ESCO Technologies by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,747,370 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $187,838,000 after purchasing an additional 91,085 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ESCO Technologies by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,343,532 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $93,942,000 after purchasing an additional 21,496 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ESCO Technologies by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,011,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $105,596,000 after purchasing an additional 26,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of ESCO Technologies by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 996,526 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $73,185,000 after purchasing an additional 8,246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sidoti lowered shares of ESCO Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of ESCO Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 17th.

ESCO Technologies Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE ESE opened at $100.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.03 and a beta of 1.15. ESCO Technologies Inc. has a one year low of $89.77 and a one year high of $118.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $101.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.92.

ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $218.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $221.44 million. ESCO Technologies had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts expect that ESCO Technologies Inc. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

ESCO Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. ESCO Technologies’s payout ratio is 8.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Leon J. Olivier sold 900 shares of ESCO Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.26, for a total value of $90,234.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

ESCO Technologies Company Profile

ESCO Technologies Inc produces and supplies engineered products and systems for industrial and commercial markets worldwide. It operates through three segments: Aerospace & Defense, Utility Solutions Group, and RF Test & Measurement. The Aerospace & Defense segment designs and manufactures filtration products, including hydraulic filter elements and fluid control devices used in commercial aerospace applications; filter mechanisms used in micro-propulsion devices for satellites; and custom designed filters for manned aircraft and submarines.