Legal & General Group Plc Takes $394.90 Million Position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 797,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,905,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the second quarter valued at about $6,129,376,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Rockwell Automation during the 4th quarter worth about $615,596,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 5,925.6% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 906,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $352,572,000 after acquiring an additional 891,153 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation during the 2nd quarter valued at about $300,589,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation during the 2nd quarter valued at about $210,342,000. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ROK. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $495.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $470.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore set a $485.00 price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Argus upped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $465.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $500.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $468.19.

Rockwell Automation Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:ROK opened at $430.01 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $460.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.08. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $332.71 and a fifty-two week high of $497.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.54.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.38 by $0.11. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 13.39% and a return on equity of 39.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. Rockwell Automation’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

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

Rockwell Automation declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 9th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Christian E. Rothe sold 590 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,314.70. This represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,043,282.87. This trade represents a 7.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,185 shares of company stock worth $529,331. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Company 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.