Royal Bank of Canada Sells 8,034 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 43.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,480 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 8,034 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Acuity were worth $2,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,019,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Acuity by 499.6% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 164,275 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $59,145,000 after buying an additional 136,879 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 308,665 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $111,132,000 after buying an additional 83,936 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 57.0% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 31,233 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,245,000 after buying an additional 11,341 shares during the period. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at $22,572,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AYI. Weiss Ratings upgraded Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer set a $465.00 target price on shares of Acuity in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.17.

Acuity Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:AYI opened at $359.00 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.04 and a 1 year high of $380.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $334.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $306.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $10.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.29.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.26% and a net margin of 10.25%.The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.44 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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