Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Purchases 279 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 7.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,604,000 after buying an additional 1,169 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 6,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,810,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the 2nd quarter worth about $350,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 794,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $218,749,000 after buying an additional 74,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quilter Plc boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 304,010 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,688,000 after buying an additional 33,873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ROK opened at $268.30 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $265.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.32. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $242.81 and a 1 year high of $312.76.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 34.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ROK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price 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. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $305.00 to $293.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Rockwell Automation has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.80.

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.