First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 485.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,473 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.09% of Rockwell Automation worth $34,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 468.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 91 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 48.7% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 116 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Rockwell Automation in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Sachetta LLC lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 900.0% during the third quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 120 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Rockwell Automation from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $430.00 target price on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Rockwell Automation from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $435.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $418.33.

Rockwell Automation Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $358.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $40.23 billion, a PE ratio of 40.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $404.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $380.39. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $215.00 and a 1 year high of $438.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.11 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.400-12.200 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.16%.

Insider Activity at Rockwell Automation

In related news, SVP Rebecca W. House sold 12,100 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.27, for a total transaction of $4,891,667.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 12,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,932,094. This trade represents a 49.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Isaac Woods sold 1,271 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.69, for a total value of $515,631.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 1,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $684,399.03. The trade was a 42.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 49,228 shares of company stock valued at $19,992,391 in the last 90 days. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.