Global Trust Asset Management LLC Buys 1,933 Shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Global Trust Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 230.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,772 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,933 shares during the quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 3.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,048,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,092,891,000 after acquiring an additional 438,356 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased 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 worth $1,611,915,000 after acquiring 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 worth $439,912,000 after acquiring an additional 365,795 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 6.1% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 955,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $278,387,000 after acquiring an additional 54,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 29,591.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,326,000 after acquiring an additional 933,025 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROK has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $270.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. 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 report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six 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 target price of $286.47.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

Shares of ROK opened at $267.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42, a PEG ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is $265.56 and its 200-day moving average is $267.37. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $242.81 and a fifty-two week high of $312.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.63. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 34.09%. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.