Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,523 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 6,334 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 7,494 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 36.5% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,869 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,190,000 after buying an additional 3,175 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,783 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 38.1% during the 1st 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. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $300.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $278.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $259.33. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $158.80 and a twelve month high of $312.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

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.