Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 30,421 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its Rockwell Automation stake by 642.7% in Q1, adding 30,421 shares to bring its total to 35,154 shares valued at about $12.6 million.
• Several other institutional investors also increased positions in Rockwell Automation, and the stock is now about 75.75% owned by institutions.
• Rockwell Automation reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, raised its stock repurchase authorization by $1 billion, and its board also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.38 per share.

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK - Free Report) by 642.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,154 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 30,421 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $12,616,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $615,596,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Rockwell Automation by 5,925.6% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 906,192 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $352,572,000 after buying an additional 891,153 shares during the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter worth $156,017,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,545,104 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $601,154,000 after buying an additional 309,316 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 1,666.2% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 321,722 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $112,451,000 after buying an additional 303,506 shares during the period. 75.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Rockwell Automation news, VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 4,024 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.97, for a total transaction of $1,818,727.28. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 134 shares in the company, valued at $60,563.98. This trade represents a 96.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew W. Fordenwalt sold 600 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $449.58, for a total value of $269,748.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,994,786.46. This trade represents a 11.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 9,361 shares of company stock valued at $4,189,886 over the last 90 days. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $445.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $404.00 to $417.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $495.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $470.00 to $527.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $469.33.

Rockwell Automation Trading Up 2.1%

ROK stock opened at $470.11 on Wednesday. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12 month low of $305.44 and a 12 month high of $497.36. The firm's 50-day moving average is $460.70 and its 200 day moving average is $418.44. The company has a market capitalization of $52.31 billion, a PE ratio of 48.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.500-13.100 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.06 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 9th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

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

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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