Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK Shares Sold by Hilltop Holdings Inc.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. reduced its position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 51.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,043 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,112 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,206,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,527,249,000 after acquiring an additional 114,469 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,996,130 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,943,844,000 after purchasing an additional 202,705 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,924,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,133,397,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,921,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,136,801,000 after purchasing an additional 276,021 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,104,985 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $818,986,000 after purchasing an additional 24,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Terry L. Riesterer sold 4,024 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.97, for a total transaction of $1,818,727.28. Following the sale, the vice president owned 134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,563.98. The trade was a 96.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Christopher Nardecchia sold 2,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $446.43, for a total value of $1,133,039.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 14,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,353,591.76. This represents a 15.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 9,361 shares of company stock valued at $4,189,886 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ROK shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Rockwell Automation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $465.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $448.00 to $487.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, HSBC lifted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $445.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $469.33.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of ROK opened at $467.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $462.56 and a 200-day moving average of $422.55. The company has a market cap of $51.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.09. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $305.44 and a 1 year high of $497.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. 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 13.06 earnings per share 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 repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

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

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.