Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) SVP Cyril Perducat Sells 1,000 Shares

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) SVP Cyril Perducat sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,089,000. The trade was a 21.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

Rockwell Automation stock opened at $298.84 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.08. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $242.81 and a 1 year high of $312.76. The company has a market capitalization of $33.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.07. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 11.53%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.64 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. This is a boost from Rockwell Automation’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.29%.

Rockwell Automation announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROK has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group began coverage on Rockwell Automation in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $313.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Rockwell Automation from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $286.13.

Institutional Trading of Rockwell Automation

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ROK. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Rockwell Automation by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,404 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,256,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation in the third quarter worth $464,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation in the third quarter worth $1,348,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 34.5% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 16.3% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 39,113 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,500,000 after acquiring an additional 5,480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

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.