Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Increases Holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Key Points

• Arrowstreet Capital boosted its Rockwell Automation stake by 62.3% in the fourth quarter, buying 200,672 additional shares and ending with 522,636 shares valued at about $203.3 million.
• Rockwell Automation reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.30 beating estimates and revenue rising 11.9% year over year to $2.24 billion. The company also raised FY2026 guidance to $12.50-$13.10 EPS.
• The company announced a $1 billion share repurchase plan and a quarterly dividend of $1.38 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $451.75.

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK - Free Report) by 62.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 522,636 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 200,672 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.47% of Rockwell Automation worth $203,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Rockwell Automation by 97.5% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 79 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in Rockwell Automation by 109.5% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 88 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its position in Rockwell Automation by 100.0% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on ROK shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $400.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $501.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $380.00 price target (down from $490.00) on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $435.00 to $410.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on Rockwell Automation from $365.00 to $378.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $451.75.

Rockwell Automation Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE ROK opened at $458.66 on Monday. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $305.44 and a 1-year high of $468.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $428.54 and a 200-day moving average of $407.07. The firm has a market cap of $51.03 billion, a PE ratio of 47.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.57.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.42. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 12.36%.The company had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. Rockwell Automation's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.500-13.100 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.01 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Rockwell Automation's payout ratio is 57.38%.

Rockwell Automation declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 9th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John M. Miller sold 1,054 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $426.02, for a total value of $449,025.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,392,102.30. The trade was a 15.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Matthew W. Fordenwalt sold 377 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.51, for a total value of $173,612.27. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,043,282.87. The trade was a 7.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 12,308 shares of company stock worth $5,339,812 in the last 90 days. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Rockwell Automation Company Profile

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.

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