Stonegate Investment Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,728 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Claro Advisors LLC raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 145.4% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 4,153 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after buying an additional 2,461 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 17.8% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 3,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 1,707.7% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 3.0% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 35,382 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,499,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 1.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 10,081 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,706,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Monday, July 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $256.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $286.47.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

NYSE ROK opened at $272.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $31.10 billion, a PE ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $264.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.67. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $242.81 and a 1-year high of $312.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 34.09% and a net margin of 11.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, September 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Rockwell Automation 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.