Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) VP Terry L. Riesterer Sells 269 Shares

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK - Get Free Report) VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 269 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.26, for a total transaction of $95,564.94. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $573,034.38. The trade was a 14.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

ROK stock traded up $5.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $356.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 680,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 866,083. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company's 50 day moving average is $322.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.30. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $215.00 and a fifty-two week high of $357.58. The stock has a market cap of $40.22 billion, a PE ratio of 44.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Rockwell Automation's payout ratio is currently 65.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rockwell Automation

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ROK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,876,530 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,965,774,000 after buying an additional 81,079 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,115,280 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,033,476,000 after buying an additional 432,934 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,734,430 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $779,426,000 after acquiring an additional 51,228 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,819,379 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $470,091,000 after acquiring an additional 191,370 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,579,956 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $408,229,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920 shares during the period. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ROK. TD Cowen raised Rockwell Automation from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $304.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $271.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, CICC Research assumed coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $381.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rockwell Automation has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $341.11.

Rockwell Automation Company 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.

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