Intech Investment Management LLC Has $500,000 Stock Position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Intech Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 90.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,863 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 17,689 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Rockwell Automation by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,680 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 336.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,956,000 after acquiring an additional 21,051 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in Rockwell Automation by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,122 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 142.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 680 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ROK. Barclays raised their target price on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $345.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $287.13.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

NYSE:ROK opened at $295.14 on Monday. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $242.81 and a 1 year high of $312.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $267.98. The company has a market capitalization of $33.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 11.53%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.31 per share. This is a boost from Rockwell Automation’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Rockwell Automation announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding 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 often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John M. Miller sold 467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.07, for a total transaction of $132,660.69. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,800 shares in the company, valued at $1,363,536. This represents a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Veena M. Lakkundi sold 579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.86, for a total transaction of $154,511.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,221,151.36. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,746 shares of company stock valued at $9,152,594. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

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.