Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,373 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 269 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $10,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $266,865,000 after purchasing an additional 12,479 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $201,728,000 after acquiring an additional 20,537 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $152,085,000 after acquiring an additional 20,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,810 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $172,654,000 after acquiring an additional 34,032 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 16.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $106,201,000 after purchasing an additional 63,159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $317.88 on Tuesday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $199.47 and a 52 week high of $337.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $315.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $274.16.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted 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. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.74 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on 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 boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective 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 target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $324.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently 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.