ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Purchases New Holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 830 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ROK. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 33.2% during the third quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 1,377 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Rockwell Automation during the 3rd quarter worth $912,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 34,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,184,000 after acquiring an additional 1,928 shares during the period. Vicus Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the third quarter valued at about $304,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 462,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,554,000 after acquiring an additional 25,882 shares during the period. 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 recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp raised Rockwell Automation from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $313.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $290.00 to $350.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $288.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Rockwell Automation presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $301.61.

Insider Transactions at Rockwell Automation

In other Rockwell Automation news, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 26,700 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.63, for a total value of $7,973,421.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,327,482.45. The trade was a 25.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total value of $245,874.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $329,114.56. This represents a 42.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,436 shares of company stock worth $10,832,549 over the last ninety days. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Rockwell Automation Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $275.85 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $287.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.04. The company has a market capitalization of $31.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $242.81 and a 1 year high of $307.71.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 11.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.64 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.31 per share. This is a boost from Rockwell Automation’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.29%.

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.