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

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 yield of 1.94%.

Rockwell Automation has raised its dividend by an average of 5.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Rockwell Automation has a dividend payout ratio of 47.6% indicating that 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 Performance

ROK traded up $0.02 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $270.36. 772,884 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 692,127. The firm has a market cap of $30.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $287.28 and its 200 day moving average is $275.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Rockwell Automation has a one year low of $242.81 and a one year high of $304.29.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Rockwell Automation will post 9.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John M. Miller sold 467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.07, for a total transaction of $132,660.69. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 4,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,363,536. The trade was a 8.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total transaction of $245,874.40. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $329,114.56. This trade represents a 42.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,857 shares of company stock valued at $10,678,037. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ROK. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $313.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Stephens upgraded shares of Rockwell Automation from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Rockwell Automation from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.16.

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.