First City Capital Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

First City Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,783 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 90 shares during the quarter. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $672,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,999 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,541 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Acuity Brands stock opened at $272.23 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $247.25 and its 200-day moving average is $252.59. The company has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $273.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.