Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) Shares Acquired by GHP Investment Advisors Inc.

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 46,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 808 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $12,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 52.9% in the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 3.4% in the third quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 7,066 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,897,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its stake in Rockwell Automation by 4.8% during the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 32,342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,683,000 after buying an additional 1,473 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 47,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,859,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 9,024 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,442,000 after buying an additional 1,773 shares during the last quarter. 75.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ROK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Rockwell Automation from $293.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $227.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Rockwell Automation from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $286.47.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

ROK stock traded up $2.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $269.86. 380,817 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 873,659. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1-year low of $242.81 and a 1-year high of $312.76. The firm has a market cap of $30.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $265.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 34.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.