Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $418.3333.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $439.00 to $466.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $430.00 target price on Rockwell Automation in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Oppenheimer lowered Rockwell Automation from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Rockwell Automation from $400.00 to $404.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th.

Rockwell Automation Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $355.02 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $398.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $380.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Rockwell Automation has a 12-month low of $215.00 and a 12-month high of $438.72. The company has a market cap of $39.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.62, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.53.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.29. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 34.92%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.400-12.200 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Rockwell Automation will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is 63.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Rebecca W. House sold 12,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.27, for a total value of $4,891,667.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,932,094. This represents a 49.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Tessa M. Myers sold 1,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.37, for a total transaction of $812,599.45. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,652,217.32. This trade represents a 32.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 49,228 shares of company stock valued at $19,992,391 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 0.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 valued at $1,943,844,000 after purchasing an additional 202,705 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.6% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,921,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,136,801,000 after buying 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% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,104,985 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $818,986,000 after buying an additional 24,719 shares in the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.