Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Holdings Cut by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates trimmed its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,100 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,277 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.11% of Acuity Brands worth $9,666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 14,329 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 148.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $11,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth $757,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.8 %

AYI opened at $303.54 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $276.49 and a 200-day moving average of $258.74. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $157.34 and a fifty-two week high of $312.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 4.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

About Acuity Brands

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.