Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 1,351 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 181.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,095 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,351 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE now owns 1,680 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Grange Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the 4th quarter valued at $300,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter worth about $11,470,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter valued at about $233,000. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ROK. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $240.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. KeyCorp raised Rockwell Automation from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Rockwell Automation from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.16.

Rockwell Automation Stock Up 0.0 %

ROK opened at $278.97 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $288.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $275.34. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 52 week low of $242.81 and a 52 week high of $304.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $31.53 billion, a PE ratio of 33.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 11.53%. The company’s revenue was down 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rockwell Automation news, SVP Veena M. Lakkundi sold 579 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.86, for a total value of $154,511.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,221,151.36. The trade was a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total value of $245,874.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,114.56. This trade represents a 42.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,436 shares of company stock valued at $10,832,549. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.