Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $307.68.

ROK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Rockwell Automation from $300.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. HSBC raised Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $355.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Rockwell Automation from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. KeyCorp raised Rockwell Automation from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Rockwell Automation from $257.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Insider Transactions at Rockwell Automation

In related news, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total value of $245,874.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $329,114.56. This trade represents a 42.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott Genereux sold 500 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.14, for a total value of $145,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,716.70. This represents a 20.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,246,298. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROK. MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 95.8% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 99.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 2,582 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation during the third quarter valued at approximately $912,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 6.0% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 34,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,184,000 after acquiring an additional 1,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 462,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,554,000 after acquiring an additional 25,882 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

ROK stock opened at $260.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $29.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.39. Rockwell Automation has a 1 year low of $242.81 and a 1 year high of $308.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $282.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.70.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.22. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.17% and a net margin of 11.38%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.26%.

About Rockwell Automation

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.