FAS Wealth Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 5,898 Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

FAS Wealth Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,898 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,117,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter valued at about $615,596,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 5,925.6% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 906,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $352,572,000 after acquiring an additional 891,153 shares during the period. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,017,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Rockwell Automation by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,545,104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $601,154,000 after acquiring an additional 309,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 1,666.2% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 321,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,451,000 after acquiring an additional 303,506 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Rockwell Automation

In related news, VP John M. Miller sold 1,054 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $426.02, for a total value of $449,025.08. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,102.30. The trade was a 15.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 4,024 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.97, for a total value of $1,818,727.28. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,563.98. The trade was a 96.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 5,673 shares of company stock valued at $2,540,847 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Stock Up 0.5%

Rockwell Automation stock opened at $482.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.71 billion, a PE ratio of 50.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $465.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.73. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12 month low of $305.44 and a 12 month high of $497.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 9th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $501.00 price objective on the stock. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $445.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $465.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $404.00 to $417.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $470.00 to $527.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Rockwell Automation presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $469.33.

About Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation is a global industrial automation and digital transformation company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm designs, manufactures and supports control systems, industrial control hardware and software, and related services that help manufacturers and industrial operators automate processes, improve productivity and enable data-driven decision making. Rockwell traces its heritage to the Allen-Bradley and Rockwell automation businesses and positions itself as a provider of integrated automation solutions across discrete and process industries.

The company’s product portfolio includes programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), variable frequency drives, sensors, safety components and other industrial control hardware, often marketed under the Allen-Bradley brand.