Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $1.13 Million Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,108 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,131,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

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 in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target 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. Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $325.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.93 and a 52 week high of $337.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $293.41 and its 200-day moving average is $264.34.

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. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.46%.

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.