Aurora Investment Counsel Reduces Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Aurora Investment Counsel lowered its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 45.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,097 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 2,612 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AYI. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $286.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $275.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.84 and a 1-year high of $275.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $248.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.17.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.88%.

Acuity Brands 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.