MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 163 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 163 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $4,380,000 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 stake in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 352 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

AYI opened at $320.69 on Monday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.93 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $307.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.37. The stock has a market cap of $9.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.74 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.