Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) Announces $1.31 Quarterly Dividend

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 1.31 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th.

Rockwell Automation has increased its dividend by an average of 5.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Rockwell Automation has a payout ratio of 47.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Rockwell Automation to earn $11.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.5%.

Rockwell Automation Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:ROK opened at $268.28 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $286.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $275.05. Rockwell Automation has a 52 week low of $242.81 and a 52 week high of $304.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $30.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.35.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 30.42%. The company’s revenue was down 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on ROK. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $288.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Rockwell Automation from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Rockwell Automation in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $313.00 price target on the stock. Stephens raised Rockwell Automation from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $275.00 to $350.00 in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Rockwell Automation in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $345.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Rockwell Automation presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Isaac Woods sold 895 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.72, for a total value of $245,874.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,114.56. This represents a 42.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 1,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.01, for a total value of $338,553.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 81,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,690,525.54. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,857 shares of company stock valued at $10,678,037 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

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.