Ballentine Partners LLC Takes Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 773 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,149,459 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $235,444,000 after acquiring an additional 45,666 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $139,667,000 after purchasing an additional 89,192 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 625,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,035,000 after purchasing an additional 36,488 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 14.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 549,297 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $93,551,000 after purchasing an additional 71,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,686,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $239.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.59. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $154.72 and a 52-week high of $272.74. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $254.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $243.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.44.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The business had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.75.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.