Insider Selling: Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) SVP Sells 551 Shares of Stock

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) SVP Christopher Nardecchia sold 551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.31, for a total transaction of $179,796.81. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,711 shares in the company, valued at $4,147,726.41. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ROK opened at $325.06 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $275.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.56. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $36.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.38. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.00 and a 12 month high of $328.90.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.36. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 30.17%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rockwell Automation

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,876,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,965,774,000 after buying an additional 81,079 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Rockwell Automation by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,115,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,033,476,000 after buying an additional 432,934 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,734,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $779,426,000 after purchasing an additional 51,228 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,073,594 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $580,095,000 after buying an additional 430,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 11.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,819,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $470,091,000 after purchasing an additional 191,370 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ROK. TD Cowen upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Rockwell Automation from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $265.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $327.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.21.

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.