Grange Capital LLC Buys New Position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Grange Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 1,377 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 95.8% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Rockwell Automation during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $912,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 99.1% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 34,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,928 shares in the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rockwell Automation

In other Rockwell Automation news, SVP Veena M. Lakkundi sold 579 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.86, for a total transaction of $154,511.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,221,151.36. The trade was a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 26,700 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.63, for a total value of $7,973,421.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,115 shares in the company, valued at $23,327,482.45. The trade was a 25.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,436 shares of company stock valued at $10,832,549 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE ROK opened at $288.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.36. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12-month low of $242.81 and a 12-month high of $307.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $288.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $275.08.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 11.53%. The business’s revenue was down 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.32 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. This is an increase from Rockwell Automation’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Rockwell Automation’s payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ROK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $240.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Stephens upgraded Rockwell Automation from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $345.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.16.

About Rockwell Automation

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.