Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC lowered its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,703,124 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 400,450 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned about 0.09% of Acuity Brands worth $744,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% in 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 during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $320.16 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $176.93 and a 1-year high of $337.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during 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%. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

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.