Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) to Issue $1.31 Quarterly Dividend

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 1.31 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%.

Rockwell Automation has raised its dividend by an average of 5.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Rockwell Automation has a payout ratio of 47.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Rockwell Automation to earn $11.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.5%.

Rockwell Automation Stock Up 0.0 %

ROK stock opened at $270.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.35. Rockwell Automation has a fifty-two week low of $242.81 and a fifty-two week high of $304.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $287.28 and a 200-day moving average of $275.09.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROK has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $240.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho upped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $313.00 price target for the company. HSBC upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $355.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Rockwell Automation from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.16.

Insider Activity

In other Rockwell Automation news, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 26,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.63, for a total transaction of $7,973,421.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,327,482.45. The trade was a 25.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott Genereux sold 279 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.13, for a total transaction of $82,620.27. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $856,111.83. This trade represents a 8.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,857 shares of company stock valued at $10,678,037. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.