Trust Co. of Vermont Acquires Shares of 3,318 Rockwell Automation, Inc. $ROK

Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new position in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,318 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,643,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 2.2% during the second quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $487,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in Rockwell Automation by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,719 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,544,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.75% of the company’s stock.

Rockwell Automation Stock Performance

Shares of ROK stock opened at $433.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $463.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $48.13 billion, a PE ratio of 40.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.54. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $332.71 and a 1 year high of $497.36.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.38 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 39.83% and a net margin of 13.39%.Rockwell Automation’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. Rockwell Automation has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.000-13.300 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rockwell Automation declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 9th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Rockwell Automation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rockwell Automation news, SVP Matthew W. Fordenwalt sold 377 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.51, for a total transaction of $173,612.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,043,282.87. The trade was a 7.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on Rockwell Automation from $470.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Argus increased their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $465.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Mizuho set a $445.00 target price on Rockwell Automation in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Rockwell Automation from $404.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Rockwell Automation in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $468.67.

About Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation is a global industrial automation and digital transformation company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm designs, manufactures and supports control systems, industrial control hardware and software, and related services that help manufacturers and industrial operators automate processes, improve productivity and enable data-driven decision making. Rockwell traces its heritage to the Allen-Bradley and Rockwell automation businesses and positions itself as a provider of integrated automation solutions across discrete and process industries.

The company’s product portfolio includes programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), variable frequency drives, sensors, safety components and other industrial control hardware, often marketed under the Allen-Bradley brand.