Insider Selling: Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) CEO Sells 24,400 Shares of Stock

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) CEO Blake Moret sold 24,400 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.13, for a total transaction of $8,543,172.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 83,873 shares in the company, valued at $29,366,453.49. This represents a 22.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ROK opened at $344.97 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $345.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $303.90. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.00 and a 12 month high of $360.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.41.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.15. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 12.03% and a return on equity of 30.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. Rockwell Automation’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ROK shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $357.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $392.00 price objective (up from $371.00) on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Rockwell Automation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $371.00 to $363.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $340.16.

Institutional Trading of Rockwell Automation

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROK. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 4,195 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Group One Trading LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter valued at about $86,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 74.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 25,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,310,000 after acquiring an additional 10,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter valued at about $276,000. 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.