Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Purchases Shares of 2,951 Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,951 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $813,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,717,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,050,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 12.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 427 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 16.6% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 352 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,541 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $613,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $326.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $301.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $267.23. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.93 and a twelve month high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued 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 firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price 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, Oppenheimer boosted 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

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

Acuity Brands Company Profile

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.