FAS Wealth Partners Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Key Points

• FAS Wealth Partners acquired 5,898 Rockwell Automation shares worth approximately $2.12 million in the first quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 75.75% of the company.
• Analysts raised several price targets, including Goldman Sachs to $487 and KeyCorp to $510, but the overall consensus remains “Hold” with an average target of $469.33.
• Rockwell reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with adjusted earnings of $3.30 per share and revenue of $2.24 billion, while also declaring a $1.38 quarterly dividend and approving a $1 billion share-repurchase plan.

FAS Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,898 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $2,117,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ROK. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. First Horizon Corp purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROK has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $448.00 to $487.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Rockwell Automation from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $404.00 to $417.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $470.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Rockwell Automation from $400.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $469.33.

Rockwell Automation Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE ROK opened at $482.72 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $465.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.73. The stock has a market cap of $53.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.54. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12-month low of $305.44 and a 12-month high of $497.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.42. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given 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 yield of 1.1%. Rockwell Automation's payout ratio is currently 57.38%.

Rockwell Automation announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rockwell Automation

In other news, VP John M. Miller sold 1,054 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,392,102.30. This represents a 15.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 4,024 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.97, for a total value of $1,818,727.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 134 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,563.98. The trade was a 96.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,673 shares of company stock worth $2,540,847. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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