Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 10,064 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board cut its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,404 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 10,064 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 148.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 2,627 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 221.2% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,609,000 after acquiring an additional 4,124 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $757,000. Finally, InterOcean Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth $269,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Acuity Brands stock opened at $316.95 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $297.89 and a 200-day moving average of $266.04. The company has a market capitalization of $9.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. 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.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced 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. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is presently 4.46%.

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 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.