Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 515 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 0.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 241,175 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 515 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $66,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ROK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 3.2% during the 1st 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 951.4% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Rockwell Automation by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,510,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $439,912,000 after buying an additional 365,795 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 955,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $278,387,000 after buying an additional 54,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 82.4% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 859,717 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $250,461,000 after purchasing an additional 388,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ROK. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $295.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a report on Monday, July 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $256.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Rockwell Automation from $304.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Rockwell Automation from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Three investment 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, Rockwell Automation has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.80.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

ROK stock opened at $268.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 52-week low of $242.81 and a 52-week high of $312.76. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $265.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $270.32.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 34.09% and a net margin of 11.56%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.01 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.67 EPS for the current year.

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

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.