TheStreet upgraded shares of Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report issued on Wednesday, January 29th, TheStreetRatingsTable reports.
Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on ROK. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a neutral rating and a $206.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Rockwell Automation from an underweight rating to an equal rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank reduced their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $203.00 to $202.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Credit Suisse Group raised shares of Rockwell Automation from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $191.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. The company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $192.27.
Shares of ROK traded down $2.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $202.72. 582,252 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 774,067. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.82. The firm has a market cap of $23.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.46. Rockwell Automation has a 12-month low of $143.91 and a 12-month high of $207.94.
Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.11. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 13.75% and a return on equity of 102.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Rockwell Automation’s payout ratio is 47.06%.
In other news, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 4,865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.98, for a total transaction of $968,037.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,278 shares in the company, valued at $10,203,296.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Patrick P. Goris sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $680,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,440,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,950 shares of company stock valued at $7,343,119. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROK. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 487.3% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. now owns 832,693 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $168,762,000 after acquiring an additional 690,915 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 3,104.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 349,159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,541,000 after acquiring an additional 338,263 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 215.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 388,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,829,000 after acquiring an additional 265,652 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 1,707.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 157,818 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,985,000 after acquiring an additional 149,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smith Asset Management Group LP acquired a new position in Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter worth $30,088,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.72% of the company’s stock.
About Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation, Inc provides industrial automation and information solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Architecture & Software; and Control Products & Solutions. The Architecture & Software segment provides control platforms, including controllers, electronic operator interface devices, electronic input/output devices, communication and networking products, and industrial computers that perform multiple control disciplines and monitoring of applications, such as discrete, batch and continuous process, drives control, motion control, and machine safety control.
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