Hedeker Wealth LLC Acquires 570 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Hedeker Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,012 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands makes up approximately 1.4% of Hedeker Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Hedeker Wealth LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $5,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 7,494 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 36.5% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,869 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,190,000 after purchasing an additional 3,175 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $661,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,783 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,017,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.1 %

AYI traded down $3.23 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $302.79. The company had a trading volume of 23,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,630. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $275.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.42. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $157.34 and a 52 week high of $312.20. The stock has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its 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 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 analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Acuity Brands 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.