Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Invests $633,000 in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ROK. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 29,844.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 702,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $181,588,000 after buying an additional 700,447 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,115,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,033,476,000 after buying an additional 432,934 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 56.9% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 935,726 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $267,421,000 after buying an additional 339,480 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 289.6% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 416,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $119,144,000 after buying an additional 309,893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rockwell Automation during the 1st quarter worth $63,632,000. 75.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ROK. TD Cowen upgraded Rockwell Automation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Rockwell Automation from $371.00 to $363.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $392.00 price target (up from $371.00) on shares of Rockwell Automation in a report on Monday, July 14th. Loop Capital increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $339.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rockwell Automation

In other news, SVP Matheus De A. G. Viera Bulho sold 526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.35, for a total transaction of $171,134.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 983 shares in the company, valued at $319,819.05. The trade was a 34.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Tessa M. Myers sold 363 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.32, for a total transaction of $118,454.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,325,838.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,818 shares of company stock worth $1,944,708 over the last 90 days. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ROK opened at $333.67 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $336.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 12-month low of $215.00 and a 12-month high of $360.92. The company has a market cap of $37.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.39.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.15. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 12.03% and a return on equity of 30.14%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. Rockwell Automation’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Rockwell Automation’s payout ratio is currently 61.50%.

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.