Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK Shares Sold by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. trimmed its holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 4.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,355 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $10,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ROK. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 97.5% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 79 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp bought a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, TD Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. 75.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ROK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $440.00 to $480.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $448.00 to $487.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $404.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Rockwell Automation in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho set a $445.00 target price on Rockwell Automation in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $469.33.

Rockwell Automation Trading Down 1.5%

ROK stock opened at $461.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average is $461.27 and its 200-day moving average is $419.67. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $305.44 and a 1-year high of $497.36. The firm has a market cap of $51.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.54.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 12.36%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.500-13.100 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Rockwell Automation’s payout ratio is presently 57.38%.

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

Insider Transactions at Rockwell Automation

In related news, SVP Christopher Nardecchia sold 2,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $446.43, for a total transaction of $1,133,039.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,232 shares in the company, valued at $6,353,591.76. This trade represents a 15.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 4,024 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.97, for a total value of $1,818,727.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,563.98. This represents a 96.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,361 shares of company stock valued at $4,189,886. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.