Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Sells 394 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. reduced its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 14.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 394 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 951.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,532,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,611,915,000 after purchasing an additional 5,006,706 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $439,912,000 after acquiring an additional 365,795 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 162,058.5% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 1,185,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $318,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,648 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 986,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $264,929,000 after purchasing an additional 41,605 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 29,591.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,326,000 after buying an additional 933,025 shares during the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROK has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $288.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $313.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $286.13.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

NYSE:ROK opened at $278.08 on Wednesday. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 52-week low of $242.81 and a 52-week high of $312.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $269.96 and a 200 day moving average of $266.94.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. This is a positive change from Rockwell Automation’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.39%.

Rockwell Automation declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Veena M. Lakkundi sold 579 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.86, for a total value of $154,511.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,221,151.36. The trade was a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation 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.