Colonial Trust Co SC Grows Stock Position in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 29.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 493 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $141,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 29,626 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,467,000 after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Rockwell Automation by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 25,221 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,208,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new stake in Rockwell Automation during the fourth quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the fourth quarter worth about $8,289,000. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ROK. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Rockwell Automation from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $201.00 to $271.00 in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $257.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $283.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $305.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rockwell Automation news, SVP Tessa M. Myers sold 1,231 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,819.50. The trade was a 25.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Matheus De A. G. Viera Bulho sold 293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.68, for a total transaction of $75,500.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,922 shares in the company, valued at $495,260.96. This trade represents a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,075,923 over the last ninety days. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

NYSE:ROK opened at $291.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $32.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.32. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $215.00 and a 1 year high of $308.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $273.54.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.36. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 30.17%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.26%.

Rockwell Automation Company 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.