I then twice imported the PDF into Inkscape 0.92.4 (5da689c313, ).
This PDF didn't get rasterized - no jaggies at up to 3200%. So I imported the EPS (RGB colorspace) and saved it as a PDF (using default options) resulting in a 7 kB PDF. The only software I have at work (on highly locked-down Windows 10) which opens EPS is Adobe Acrobat DC. The one I needed is available as an EPS (in your choice of colorspaces) with filesize 170 kB for RGB.
My employer has a repository of company-approved graphics. It's six letters in a proprietary font and a corporate logo 'bug' in a single (not black) color. I'd post the EPS, but that probably would make somebody in corporate branding mad. I did a similar experiment in converting a graphic logo from EPS to SVG.