Swedbank AB Trims Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Swedbank AB reduced its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 9.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 79,055 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 8,081 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $21,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $329.79 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $303.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $176.93 and a one year high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 4.46%.

Acuity Brands Company 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.