Rockwell Automation Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ROK)

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 2,755 put options on the company. This is an increase of 189% compared to the average daily volume of 953 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $430.00 price objective on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 target price on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Sunday, February 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $439.00 to $466.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Bank of America raised their price target on Rockwell Automation from $410.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $425.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $418.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.00, for a total value of $313,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,234 shares in the company, valued at $483,728. The trade was a 39.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew W. Fordenwalt sold 146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.48, for a total transaction of $58,762.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,785,803.76. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 25,531 shares of company stock valued at $10,259,637 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Rockwell Automation

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ROK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,206,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,527,249,000 after purchasing an additional 114,469 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,996,130 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,943,844,000 after buying an additional 202,705 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,924,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,133,397,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,921,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,136,801,000 after acquiring an additional 276,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,104,985 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $818,986,000 after acquiring an additional 24,719 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $386.85 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $406.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $376.66. Rockwell Automation has a 52 week low of $215.00 and a 52 week high of $438.72. The company has a market capitalization of $43.47 billion, a PE ratio of 44.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.52.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 34.92% and a net margin of 11.56%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.400-12.200 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Rockwell Automation will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.16%.

About Rockwell Automation

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.