Swedbank AB Sells 6,283 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Swedbank AB has sold 9.4% of its holdings in Acuity, Inc., holding 60,489 shares valued at approximately $18 million after the sale.
• Acuity reported quarterly earnings of $5.12 per share, exceeding expectations by 15%, with a revenue increase of 21.7% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.2% and a low dividend payout ratio of 5.36%.

Swedbank AB trimmed its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 60,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 6,283 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.20% of Acuity worth $18,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in Acuity by 525.0% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 45.3% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at $79,000. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 31.7% in the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in Acuity by 1,789.5% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 359 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AYI. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $352.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of AYI traded down $1.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $337.85. 166,283 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 329,283. The stock has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $319.45 and a 200-day moving average of $283.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $349.00.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.36%.

About Acuity

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.