Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Has $2.75 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 16.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,996 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,999 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Acuity Brands stock opened at $303.54 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $157.34 and a 12-month high of $312.20. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $276.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.