Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) Raised to Buy at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $355.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on ROK. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Rockwell Automation from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp raised Rockwell Automation from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $345.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday. Barclays raised Rockwell Automation from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $255.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $288.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $298.29.

Rockwell Automation Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE ROK traded up $3.79 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $297.49. 804,787 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 889,611. The business has a 50 day moving average of $278.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $269.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.99, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.36. Rockwell Automation has a 1 year low of $242.81 and a 1 year high of $312.76.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The firm's revenue was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $1.31 dividend. This is a boost from Rockwell Automation's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Rockwell Automation's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rockwell Automation

In other Rockwell Automation news, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 26,700 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.63, for a total value of $7,973,421.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 78,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,327,482.45. The trade was a 25.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John M. Miller sold 467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.07, for a total transaction of $132,660.69. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,363,536. This represents a 8.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,541 shares of company stock worth $10,586,674 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROK. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 33.2% in the third quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 1,377 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the 3rd quarter worth about $912,000. Vicus Capital bought a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation in the 3rd quarter valued at about $304,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 670,017 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $179,873,000 after acquiring an additional 19,987 shares during the period. Finally, Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 33,753 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $9,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736 shares during the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rockwell Automation Company Profile

Rockwell Automation, Inc provides industrial automation and digital transformation solutions in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through three segments, Intelligent Devices, Software & Control, and Lifecycle Services. Its solutions include hardware and software products and services.