Christian Rothe Sells 590 Shares of Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) Stock

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) CFO Christian Rothe sold 590 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.30, for a total value of $256,237.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,314.70. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ROK opened at $437.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $332.71 and a 1-year high of $497.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.54. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $461.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $427.00.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.38 by $0.11. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 13.39% and a return on equity of 39.83%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 9th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Zacks Research cut Rockwell Automation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho set a $445.00 price objective on Rockwell Automation in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore set a $485.00 target price on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Rockwell Automation from $501.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $468.19.

Institutional Trading of Rockwell Automation

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROK. Flputnam Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,001,000. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 26.9% during the first quarter. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd now owns 22,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,967,000 after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter worth $281,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 169,457 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $65,931,000 after acquiring an additional 33,413 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Rockwell Automation by 197.9% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 13,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,410,000 after acquiring an additional 9,238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

About Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation is a global industrial automation and digital transformation company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm designs, manufactures and supports control systems, industrial control hardware and software, and related services that help manufacturers and industrial operators automate processes, improve productivity and enable data-driven decision making. Rockwell traces its heritage to the Allen-Bradley and Rockwell automation businesses and positions itself as a provider of integrated automation solutions across discrete and process industries.

The company’s product portfolio includes programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), variable frequency drives, sensors, safety components and other industrial control hardware, often marketed under the Allen-Bradley brand.