Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 102 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Sentry Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 17.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 497 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 102 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ROK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 951.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,532,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,611,915,000 after purchasing an additional 5,006,706 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1,119.3% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 763,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,135,000 after acquiring an additional 700,745 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 3.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,048,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,092,891,000 after acquiring an additional 438,356 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation in the 1st quarter worth about $118,345,000. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 82.4% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 859,717 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $250,461,000 after purchasing an additional 388,400 shares in the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

ROK opened at $258.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $265.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $29.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.37. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $242.81 and a 1-year high of $312.76.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 34.09%. Rockwell Automation’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.01 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ROK. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $304.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Rockwell Automation from $295.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research report on Monday, July 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $256.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.80.

About Rockwell Automation

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.