Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 200,672 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 62.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 522,636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 200,672 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $203,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ROK. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 27,284 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,615,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Volterra Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter worth approximately $532,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 351,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $136,684,000 after buying an additional 4,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Matthew W. Fordenwalt sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $480,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,774,800. This represents a 21.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Matheus De A. G. Viera Bulho sold 1,250 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,308 shares of company stock worth $5,339,812. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $466.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $470.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $365.00 to $378.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective (down from $490.00) on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $448.00 to $487.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $451.75.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

ROK stock opened at $458.66 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.03 billion, a PE ratio of 47.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.57. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12-month low of $305.44 and a 12-month high of $468.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $428.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $407.07.

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

Rockwell Automation declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 9th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.38%.

About Rockwell Automation

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.