Insider Selling: Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) VP Sells $66,623.48 in Stock

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) VP Isaac Woods sold 154 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.62, for a total transaction of $66,623.48. Following the sale, the vice president owned 1,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $803,807.96. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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.

Rockwell Automation Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE:ROK opened at $428.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.18, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.52. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $332.71 and a 1-year high of $497.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $448.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $429.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.38 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 13.39% and a return on equity of 39.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.23 EPS for the current year.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 50,536.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 84,037,850 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,605,459,000 after buying an additional 83,871,888 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Rockwell Automation during the second quarter worth about $6,129,376,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,996,130 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,943,844,000 after acquiring an additional 202,705 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,924,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,133,397,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,921,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,136,801,000 after acquiring an additional 276,021 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $514.00 price objective on Rockwell Automation in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $555.00 to $536.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Rockwell Automation from $501.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Argus boosted their price target on Rockwell Automation from $465.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $469.14.

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.