Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Stock Position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 310,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,116 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.28% of Rockwell Automation worth $88,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 95.8% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 99.1% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,582 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Rockwell Automation by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 34,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,928 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 462,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,554,000 after buying an additional 25,882 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 7.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ROK. BNP Paribas downgraded Rockwell Automation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $315.00 to $337.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rockwell Automation news, VP Scott Genereux sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.14, for a total transaction of $145,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,905 shares in the company, valued at $552,716.70. The trade was a 20.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total transaction of $245,874.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,114.56. This trade represents a 42.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,352 shares of company stock worth $1,246,298 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of ROK opened at $269.06 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $279.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $278.72. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12-month low of $242.81 and a 12-month high of $308.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $30.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.39.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.22. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 30.17%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.26%.

Rockwell Automation Profile

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.