Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 79 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Nordea Investment Management AB lessened its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,418 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 79 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned approximately 0.16% of Acuity worth $14,642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $821,287,000 after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity by 1.7% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $300,181,000 after purchasing an additional 18,878 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in Acuity by 0.9% during the first quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,098,485 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $289,286,000 after purchasing an additional 10,008 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity by 3.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $219,237,000 after purchasing an additional 24,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity by 34.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $157,910,000 after purchasing an additional 157,790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of AYI stock opened at $357.12 on Monday. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $375.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $338.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s payout ratio is currently 5.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.17.

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.