McGuire Investment Group LLC Reduces Holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

McGuire Investment Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 296 shares during the period. McGuire Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $4,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ROK. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter valued at about $682,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,090 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 31,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,852,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 579,012 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $179,772,000 after acquiring an additional 23,074 shares in the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $295.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a report on Monday, July 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $256.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $283.60.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

Shares of ROK stock traded up $3.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $271.16. 597,917 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 894,610. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a twelve month low of $242.81 and a twelve month high of $312.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $262.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.07. The firm has a market cap of $30.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 1.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.63. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 34.09% and a net margin of 11.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.01 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Company Profile

Rockwell Automation, Inc provides industrial automation and digital transformation solutions in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through three segments, Intelligent Devices, Software & Control, and Lifecycle Services. Its solutions include hardware and software products and services.