Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at UBS Group

UBS Group began coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $313.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on ROK. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Rockwell Automation in a report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $286.13.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

Shares of ROK stock opened at $286.15 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $269.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $266.84. The company has a market cap of $32.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Rockwell Automation has a twelve month low of $242.81 and a twelve month high of $312.76.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.64 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation will post 9.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Rockwell Automation’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.39%.

Insider Activity at Rockwell Automation

In other Rockwell Automation news, SVP Veena M. Lakkundi sold 579 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.86, for a total transaction of $154,511.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,221,151.36. The trade was a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Rockwell Automation by 951.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,532,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,611,915,000 after buying an additional 5,006,706 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 162,058.5% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 1,185,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $318,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,648 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 29,591.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,326,000 after purchasing an additional 933,025 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 1,119.3% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 763,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,135,000 after purchasing an additional 700,745 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,048,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,092,891,000 after acquiring an additional 438,356 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.