Ninety One UK Ltd Sells 490,488 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Ninety One UK Ltd cut its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 85.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 490,488 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned 0.07% of Rockwell Automation worth $21,300,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ROK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 81,079 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $2,033,476,000 after purchasing an additional 432,934 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $779,426,000 after buying an additional 51,228 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,417,323 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $405,057,000 after purchasing an additional 53,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,391,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $397,628,000 after purchasing an additional 171,604 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Rockwell Automation from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $283.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Friday, May 30th. TD Cowen upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $275.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. CICC Research assumed coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $381.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Rockwell Automation from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $258.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $330.95.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $338.37 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $38.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $311.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $284.03. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.00 and a 12 month high of $348.43.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.36. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Rockwell Automation’s payout ratio is 65.99%.

Insider Transactions at Rockwell Automation

In other news, SVP Christopher Nardecchia sold 551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was 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 directly owned 12,711 shares in the company, valued at $4,147,726.41. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Matheus De A. G. Viera Bulho sold 526 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.35, for a total value of $171,134.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,819.05. This represents a 34.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,388 shares of company stock valued at $2,307,487 over the last quarter. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Rockwell Automation 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.