Handelsbanken Fonder AB Decreases Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Handelsbanken Fonder AB trimmed its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,491 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 5,895 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Acuity were worth $16,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in Acuity by 50,220.2% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $676,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,263,925 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Acuity by 6,496.7% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 692,189 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $249,216,000 after acquiring an additional 681,696 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at about $138,747,000. Palestra Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $91,539,000. Finally, Alua Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Acuity during the first quarter worth $63,377,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer set a $465.00 target price on shares of Acuity in a research report on Friday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Acuity from $295.00 to $358.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.17.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $358.81 on Thursday. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.04 and a 1 year high of $380.17. The stock has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $332.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.86.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 10.25% and a return on equity of 20.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 17th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.31%.

About Acuity

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.