MetLife Investment Management LLC Has $4.38 Million Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 163 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of Acuity Brands worth $4,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.6% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 352 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $320.69 on Monday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.93 and a 1 year high of $337.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The business’s 50-day moving average is $307.42 and its 200-day moving average is $269.37. The company has a market capitalization of $9.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict 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 of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.