Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) currently trades at $150.75 which is about -1.42% lower than the 52-week high of $155.44. The trading volume at ready counter moved to 1.64M shares as compared to 1.09M shares average traded volume. The stock failed to get pushed above the $152.70 barrier, the intraday high, after opening at $152.44. Analysts have a consensus target price of $144.16 in the 12-month period. Its market capitalization has now reached to $19.13B.
Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) was dropped to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays. It has earned a consensus buy rating, according to Zacks Investment Research. 1 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, 11 have assigned a hold rating, Zero says it’s a buy and 3 have assigned a strong buy rating to the company.
Rockwell Automation (ROK) on January 25, 2017 reported fiscal 2017 first quarter sales of $1,490.3 million, up 4.5 percent from $1,426.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. Organic sales grew 3.8 percent. Currency translation reduced sales by 1.1 percentage points, and acquisitions contributed 1.8 percentage points to sales growth.
Fiscal 2017 first quarter net income was $214.7 million or $1.65 per share, compared to $185.5 million or $1.40 per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. Fiscal 2017 first quarter Adjusted EPS was $1.75, up 17 percent compared to $1.49 in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. The increases in EPS and Adjusted EPS were primarily due to higher sales, strong margin performance and lower tax rates.
Pre-tax margin increased to 17.3 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 from 16.6 percent in the same period last year. Total segment operating earnings were $316.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017, up 7 percent from $295.9 million in the same period of fiscal 2016. Total segment operating margin was 21.2 percent compared to 20.7 percent a year ago. The increases in pre-tax margin and total segment operating margin were primarily due to higher sales and productivity, partially offset by higher incentive compensation.
Commenting on the results, Blake D. Moret, president and chief executive officer, said, “Four percent organic growth in the quarter is a great start to the fiscal year, better than we expected. We returned to organic growth in our largest market, the U.S., and we saw double-digit growth in emerging markets. I am also pleased with the contribution from recent acquisitions, along with our strong margin performance.”
