Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Acquired by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 76.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,499 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,433 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $9,776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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. raised its position 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 worth $79,755,000 after acquiring an additional 215,547 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 107,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth $25,188,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.0 %

AYI stock opened at $320.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.93 and a 12 month high of $337.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $306.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.89.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.