Swedbank AB Cuts Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Swedbank AB has cut its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 8.2%, reducing ownership to 66,772 shares valued at approximately $17.58 million.
• In recent analyst reports, Wells Fargo upgraded Acuity's rating to "overweight" with a new price target raised from $320 to $380.
• Acuity reported $5.12 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and showing a 21.7% revenue increase year-over-year.

Swedbank AB reduced its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 8.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,772 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 5,968 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 0.22% of Acuity worth $17,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Acuity by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $510,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity by 3.2% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of Acuity by 0.3% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $4,053,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Acuity by 1.8% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity by 15.0% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $352.60.

Acuity Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $336.57 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $314.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.18.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value 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. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Acuity 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.

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