Elefante Mark B Purchases New Position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Elefante Mark B acquired a new position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 16,181 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,011,000. Rockwell Automation accounts for approximately 3.4% of Elefante Mark B’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ROK. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Rockwell Automation during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,129,376,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter valued at $615,596,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 5,925.6% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 906,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $352,572,000 after buying an additional 891,153 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the second quarter valued at about $300,589,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the second quarter worth about $210,342,000. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ROK. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $400.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $501.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Evercore set a $485.00 target price on Rockwell Automation in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Rockwell Automation from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $468.19.

Rockwell Automation Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $437.50 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $48.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.00, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $461.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $426.98. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 52-week low of $332.71 and a 52-week high of $497.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.38 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 13.39% and a return on equity of 39.83%. Rockwell Automation’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. Rockwell Automation’s payout ratio is presently 51.73%.

Rockwell Automation announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 9th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Rockwell Automation

In related news, CFO Christian E. Rothe sold 590 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.30, for a total transaction of $256,237.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,314.70. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Matthew W. Fordenwalt sold 377 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.51, for a total value of $173,612.27. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,043,282.87. This represents a 7.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,185 shares of company stock worth $529,331 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Profile

Rockwell Automation is a global industrial automation and digital transformation company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm designs, manufactures and supports control systems, industrial control hardware and software, and related services that help manufacturers and industrial operators automate processes, improve productivity and enable data-driven decision making. Rockwell traces its heritage to the Allen-Bradley and Rockwell automation businesses and positions itself as a provider of integrated automation solutions across discrete and process industries.

The company’s product portfolio includes programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), variable frequency drives, sensors, safety components and other industrial control hardware, often marketed under the Allen-Bradley brand.