Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 19,064 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 232,563 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 19,064 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.21% of Rockwell Automation worth $60,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter worth $281,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 4,195 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 50.6% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,902 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ROK. BNP Paribas raised shares of Rockwell Automation from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays raised shares of Rockwell Automation from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $283.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Friday, May 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $360.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $327.20.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of ROK traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $338.37. The company had a trading volume of 882,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 865,280. The firm has a market cap of $38.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.62, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day moving average of $309.88 and a 200-day moving average of $283.65. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.00 and a 12 month high of $348.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.36. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 30.16%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $1.31 dividend. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Rockwell Automation's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.99%.

Insider Activity

In other Rockwell Automation news, SVP Matthew W. Fordenwalt sold 289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.33, for a total transaction of $94,309.37. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,196 shares in the company, valued at $1,042,950.68. This represents a 8.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Isaac Woods sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.31, for a total transaction of $96,914.07. Following the sale, the vice president owned 1,691 shares in the company, valued at $551,790.21. The trade was a 14.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,388 shares of company stock valued at $2,307,487. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

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.