Swedbank AB Has $21.77 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Swedbank AB lowered its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,055 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 8,081 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.26% of Acuity Brands worth $21,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $329.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $303.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.75. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.93 and a twelve month high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.