Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK Shares Purchased by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 9.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,263 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $8,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 97.5% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 79 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Rockwell Automation during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, TD Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Rockwell Automation during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ROK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $555.00 to $536.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on Rockwell Automation from $365.00 to $378.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research cut Rockwell Automation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $514.00 price objective on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $468.19.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of ROK stock opened at $430.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $458.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $427.31. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12-month low of $332.71 and a 12-month high of $497.36. 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 (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.38 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 39.83% and a net margin of 13.39%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.21 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is 51.73%.

Rockwell Automation announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 9th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Rockwell Automation

In related news, Director Patricia A. Watson sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.43, for a total transaction of $474,573.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,754,680.55. The trade was a 14.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Christian E. Rothe sold 590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.30, for a total transaction of $256,237.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,429 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,314.70. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 2,285 shares of company stock valued at $1,003,904 in the last ninety days. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.