National Bank of Canada FI Has $46,000 Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

National Bank of Canada FI lessened its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 97.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 189 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 6,454 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $46,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 38.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,890 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $13,913,000 after purchasing an additional 14,329 shares in the last quarter. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $737,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 148.4% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,372 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $9,703,000 after purchasing an additional 9,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $258.04 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.84 and a 12-month high of $272.74. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $244.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.10.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $968.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 18th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Company 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.