Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) Coverage Initiated at UBS Group

Stock analysts at UBS Group started coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $313.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.28% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ROK. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Rockwell Automation in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Rockwell Automation from $288.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $285.13.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $286.43 on Wednesday. Rockwell Automation has a one year low of $242.81 and a one year high of $312.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $267.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $266.69. The company has a market cap of $32.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.07. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. Rockwell Automation’s revenue was down 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Rockwell Automation will post 9.46 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Veena M. Lakkundi sold 579 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.86, for a total transaction of $154,511.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,221,151.36. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rockwell Automation

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,048,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,092,891,000 after acquiring an additional 438,356 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Rockwell Automation by 951.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,532,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,611,915,000 after purchasing an additional 5,006,706 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Rockwell Automation by 33.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,556,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $417,802,000 after buying an additional 390,784 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Rockwell Automation by 32.0% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,510,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $439,912,000 after buying an additional 365,795 shares during the period. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 162,058.5% in the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 1,185,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $318,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

About Rockwell Automation

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.