Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on ROK. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Rockwell Automation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Argus raised shares of Rockwell Automation to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation in a report on Sunday, February 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $406.67.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

NYSE ROK opened at $408.35 on Friday. Rockwell Automation has a one year low of $250.32 and a one year high of $438.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $383.62 and a 200 day moving average of $389.58. The company has a market capitalization of $45.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.72, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.29. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 34.92%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.400-12.200 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation will post 12.14 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Rockwell Automation’s payout ratio is 63.16%.

Insider Activity at Rockwell Automation

In related news, SVP Tessa M. Myers sold 1,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.37, for a total transaction of $812,599.45. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,652,217.32. The trade was a 32.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Matheus De A. G. Viera Bulho sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.50, for a total transaction of $484,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $671,925. This trade represents 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. Insiders sold a total of 51,375 shares of company stock valued at $20,828,717 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Rockwell Automation

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,206,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,527,249,000 after purchasing an additional 114,469 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 4.2% in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.6% in 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 period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of 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 position in shares of 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. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.