Granite Investment Partners LLC Buys 211 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Granite Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $14,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 438,356 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 951.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,532,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,611,915,000 after acquiring an additional 5,006,706 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,510,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $439,912,000 after acquiring an additional 365,795 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 955,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $278,387,000 after acquiring an additional 54,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 82.4% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 859,717 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $250,461,000 after acquiring an additional 388,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Rockwell Automation stock opened at $268.30 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $265.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $270.32. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a twelve month low of $242.81 and a twelve month high of $312.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $30.59 billion, a PE ratio of 26.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 1.37.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.63. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 34.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.01 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ROK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Monday, July 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $256.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $304.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Rockwell Automation presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.80.

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.