Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. Buys New Stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 8,960 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,436,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Flputnam Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation in the second quarter worth $1,001,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the second quarter valued at $1,411,000. 1ST Source Bank bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation during the second quarter valued at about $738,000. SCS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the second quarter worth about $1,166,000. Finally, CORDA Investment Management LLC. bought a new position in Rockwell Automation in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,592,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John M. Miller sold 1,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $426.02, for a total transaction of $449,025.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,392,102.30. This represents a 15.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Matthew W. Fordenwalt sold 377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.51, for a total value of $173,612.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,043,282.87. This trade represents a 7.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 1,649 shares of company stock worth $722,119 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on ROK. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $400.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Rockwell Automation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $501.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $360.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $468.67.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

NYSE:ROK opened at $449.33 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $463.72 and a 200-day moving average of $426.49. The firm has a market cap of $49.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a twelve month low of $332.71 and a twelve month high of $497.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.38 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 13.39% and a return on equity of 39.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. Analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.73%.

Rockwell Automation Profile

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.