Centaurus Financial Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Centaurus Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,903 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 945 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $1,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ROK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Rockwell Automation by 3.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 438,356 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in 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 valued at $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 first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,510,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $439,912,000 after purchasing an additional 365,795 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Rockwell Automation by 6.1% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 955,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $278,387,000 after purchasing an additional 54,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in 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 last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ROK. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $304.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $305.00 to $293.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $282.80.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

ROK stock opened at $264.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 1.04. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $242.81 and a 1 year high of $312.76. The firm has a market cap of $30.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $263.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.79.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.63. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 34.09% and a net margin of 11.56%. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.