Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 696 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 696 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $6,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ROK. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,073,594 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $580,095,000 after buying an additional 430,498 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,887,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,532,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 514,690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $147,093,000 after purchasing an additional 106,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 408,336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $116,682,000 after purchasing an additional 88,962 shares in the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Rockwell Automation

In other Rockwell Automation news, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total transaction of $245,874.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,198 shares in the company, valued at $329,114.56. The trade was a 42.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Tessa M. Myers sold 1,231 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.43, for a total transaction of $351,364.33. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,819.50. The trade was a 25.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,246,298. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ROK. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Rockwell Automation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Stephens raised shares of Rockwell Automation from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $275.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $315.00 to $337.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. HSBC raised shares of Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $355.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.68.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

ROK opened at $258.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.21, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $280.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $278.43. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a twelve month low of $242.81 and a twelve month high of $308.70.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.22. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 30.17%. Equities analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $1.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.26%.

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.