Versant Capital Management Inc Acquires 41 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 16.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $86,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after buying an additional 271,485 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 187.8% in the second 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 last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the second 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 during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,026,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,306,000 after purchasing an additional 107,171 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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 accessible through the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $301.60 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $314.73 and its 200-day moving average is $278.38. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $201.88 and a 1-year high of $337.99. 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 stock has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39.

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.