Rockwell Automation, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.31 (NYSE:ROK)

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 1.31 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th.

Rockwell Automation has raised its dividend by an average of 5.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Rockwell Automation has a payout ratio of 47.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Rockwell Automation to earn $11.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.5%.

Rockwell Automation Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $294.81 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $286.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Rockwell Automation has a twelve month low of $242.81 and a twelve month high of $308.70. The stock has a market cap of $33.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.35.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.22. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 11.53%. Equities research analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rockwell Automation

In other Rockwell Automation news, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total value of $245,874.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $329,114.56. This trade represents a 42.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.21, for a total value of $255,178.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,633 shares in the company, valued at $490,242.93. The trade was a 34.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 36,707 shares of company stock worth $10,933,215. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Stephens upgraded shares of Rockwell Automation from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $275.00 to $350.00 in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Rockwell Automation from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Rockwell Automation from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $257.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Rockwell Automation has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $308.05.

Rockwell Automation Company 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.