Brokerages Set Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) Target Price at $469.14

Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $469.1429.

ROK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore set a $485.00 target price on Rockwell Automation in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Argus increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $465.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $525.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Rockwell Automation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

Insider Activity at Rockwell Automation

In related news, VP Isaac Woods sold 154 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.62, for a total value of $66,623.48. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 1,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $803,807.96. This trade represents a 7.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Matheus De A. G. Viera Bulho sold 400 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.14, for a total transaction of $168,056.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 867 shares in the company, valued at $364,261.38. This represents a 31.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 2,711 shares of company stock worth $1,164,880 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Rockwell Automation

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROK. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation during the 2nd quarter worth $6,129,376,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation in the 4th quarter valued at about $615,596,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 5,925.6% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 906,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $352,572,000 after purchasing an additional 891,153 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Rockwell Automation during the second quarter worth about $394,905,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Rockwell Automation during the second quarter worth about $300,589,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Stock Up 1.2%

ROK stock opened at $415.15 on Friday. Rockwell Automation has a one year low of $332.71 and a one year high of $497.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $443.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $429.81. The firm has a market cap of $46.10 billion, a PE ratio of 38.91, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.38 by $0.11. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 13.39% and a return on equity of 39.83%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation will post 13.24 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 9th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation, Inc (NYSE: ROK) is a global provider of industrial automation and digital transformation technologies. The company helps manufacturers and other industrial organizations improve productivity, safety, quality and operational efficiency by connecting control systems, equipment, software and data across production environments.

Its portfolio includes programmable logic controllers, industrial computers, sensors, motor control and drives, motion-control systems, safety equipment, human-machine interfaces and industrial networking technologies.