Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 62 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 4.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,316 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 62 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $318,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 900.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.1 %

AYI stock opened at $272.23 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.84 and a twelve month high of $273.36. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.59.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $295.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.00.

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.