Oppenheimer Issues Positive Forecast for Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) Stock Price

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) had its target price hoisted by Oppenheimer from $300.00 to $320.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

ROK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $345.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. KeyCorp upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $355.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.55.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of ROK stock opened at $303.99 on Tuesday. Rockwell Automation has a one year low of $242.81 and a one year high of $308.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $34.36 billion, a PE ratio of 36.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $285.82 and a 200-day moving average of $275.28.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.22. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 11.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Rockwell Automation will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rockwell Automation

In other Rockwell Automation news, SVP Cyril Perducat sold 1,000 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,089,000. The trade was a 21.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John M. Miller sold 467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.07, for a total transaction of $132,660.69. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,363,536. This represents a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,857 shares of company stock worth $10,678,037. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rockwell Automation

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,876,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,965,774,000 after acquiring an additional 81,079 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,648,137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,247,839,000 after acquiring an additional 11,949 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,683,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $717,865,000 after purchasing an additional 14,040 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Rockwell Automation by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,073,594 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $580,095,000 after acquiring an additional 430,498 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,036 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $448,701,000 after purchasing an additional 13,744 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

About Rockwell Automation

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.