Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Bought by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,042 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,679 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.09% of Acuity Brands worth $7,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 366.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $83,430,000 after purchasing an additional 271,485 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 187.8% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $79,755,000 after acquiring an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $41,934,000 after acquiring an additional 135,350 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,306,000 after buying an additional 107,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $320.41 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.93 and a 1 year high of $337.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $300.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 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 (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted 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 boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Insider Activity

In related 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 value of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.