VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases New Stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems purchased 12,360 shares of Rockwell Automation valued at approximately $6.12 million, while institutional investors collectively own 75.75% of the company.
• Wall Street’s consensus rating is “Hold”, with nine analysts issuing Buy ratings and twelve recommending Hold; the average price target is $469.14.
• Rockwell exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $3.49 in EPS on $2.31 billion in revenue, and authorized a $1 billion share-repurchase program covering up to 2% of outstanding shares.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 12,360 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $6,119,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ROK. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 50,536.8% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 84,037,850 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $41,605,459,000 after buying an additional 83,871,888 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 125.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,746 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,845,000 after acquiring an additional 3,197 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in Rockwell Automation by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,101 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Rockwell Automation by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,090,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Saudi Central Bank boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 89.5% during the 2nd quarter. Saudi Central Bank now owns 7,865 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,894,000 after purchasing an additional 3,715 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ROK has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $500.00 to $490.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Zacks Research cut Rockwell Automation from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $555.00 to $536.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $501.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $469.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rockwell Automation news, Director Patricia Watson sold 1,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.43, for a total value of $474,573.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,385 shares in the company, valued at $2,754,680.55. The trade was a 14.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Christian Rothe sold 590 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.30, for a total value of $256,237.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,429 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,314.70. This represents a 5.35% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 2,557 shares of company stock valued at $1,098,256 over the last ninety days. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

NYSE ROK opened at $429.77 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.73 billion, a PE ratio of 40.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.08. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 52-week low of $332.71 and a 52-week high of $497.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $451.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.98.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.38 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 13.39% and a return on equity of 39.83%. The company's revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.23 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 9th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Rockwell Automation 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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