US Bancorp DE Decreases Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 149 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $397,000. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Hedeker Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 19,012 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,236,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,552 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $330.19 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $168.32 and a 12 month high of $331.89. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $286.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AYI. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.