Merit Financial Group LLC Has $787,000 Holdings in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) by 51.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 33.2% in the 3rd quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 1,377 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Rockwell Automation during the third quarter valued at approximately $912,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Rockwell Automation by 6.0% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 34,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,928 shares in the last quarter. Vicus Capital acquired a new stake in Rockwell Automation in the third quarter worth $304,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Rockwell Automation by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 462,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,554,000 after purchasing an additional 25,882 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ROK. Jefferies Financial Group raised Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp raised Rockwell Automation from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. HSBC raised shares of Rockwell Automation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $355.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.16.

Rockwell Automation Price Performance

Shares of Rockwell Automation stock opened at $290.99 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $288.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.52. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a twelve month low of $242.81 and a twelve month high of $307.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.07. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 30.42% and a net margin of 11.53%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 9.32 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a boost from Rockwell Automation’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Rockwell Automation news, Director James P. Keane sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.00, for a total value of $592,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,409,328. This trade represents a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 26,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.63, for a total value of $7,973,421.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 78,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,327,482.45. This represents a 25.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,436 shares of company stock valued at $10,832,549 over the last quarter. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.