Swedbank AB Purchases New Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 93,728 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $25,188,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $230.22 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $251.08. The company has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.49 and a 1 year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 18th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.