Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $1,802,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,648,137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,247,839,000 after purchasing an additional 11,949 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,683,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $717,865,000 after acquiring an additional 14,040 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,556,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $417,802,000 after acquiring an additional 390,784 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 162,058.5% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 1,185,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $318,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,128,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $303,041,000 after acquiring an additional 67,684 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rockwell Automation news, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 1,121 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total value of $338,553.21. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,690,525.54. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total transaction of $245,874.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $329,114.56. This represents a 42.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,436 shares of company stock worth $10,832,549 in the last ninety days. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of ROK stock opened at $287.06 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $287.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $274.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.08. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a one year low of $242.81 and a one year high of $307.71. The firm has a market cap of $32.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Rockwell Automation’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is 63.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ROK has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. HSBC raised shares of Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $355.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.16.

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.