Fmr LLC Decreases Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Fmr LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 12.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 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 quarter. Fmr LLC owned approximately 8.76% of Acuity Brands worth $744,413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes 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 acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report 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 stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.0 %

AYI stock opened at $320.16 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.93 and a fifty-two week high of $337.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $306.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.89. The stock has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.