FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Acquires New Stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH acquired a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 608 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,424 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $608,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,652 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation during the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 128.7% during the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 4,382 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,466 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Rockwell Automation

In related news, VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.08, for a total transaction of $735,168.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 1,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $361,632.64. This represents a 67.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 24,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.13, for a total value of $8,543,172.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 83,873 shares in the company, valued at $29,366,453.49. This represents a 22.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,922 shares of company stock worth $11,191,812 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ROK shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $357.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Bank of America raised shares of Rockwell Automation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $360.00 to $410.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $371.00 to $363.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $340.16.

Rockwell Automation Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE ROK opened at $344.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.41. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $215.00 and a 1-year high of $360.92. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $345.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $309.88.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.14% and a net margin of 12.03%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.