Legal & General Group Plc Grows Position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 733,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 29,347 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.65% of Rockwell Automation worth $285,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ROK. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,719 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,544,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,446 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Rockwell Automation by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Rockwell Automation by 7.1% in the third quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. raised its position in Rockwell Automation by 1.1% in the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 2,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $908,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

NYSE:ROK opened at $456.45 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $403.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $400.03. The company has a market cap of $50.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 52 week low of $305.44 and a 52 week high of $463.48.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.500-13.100 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Rockwell Automation’s payout ratio is 57.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ROK. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $400.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. HSBC boosted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $445.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho set a $445.00 target price on Rockwell Automation in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $365.00 to $378.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $449.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rockwell Automation news, SVP Matheus De A. G. Viera Bulho sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.50, for a total value of $484,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,734 shares in the company, valued at $671,925. The trade was a 41.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP John M. Miller sold 1,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $426.02, for a total transaction of $449,025.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 5,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,102.30. This trade represents a 15.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,178 shares of company stock valued at $10,997,512. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation 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.