Atom Investors LP Makes New $2.71 Million Investment in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Atom Investors LP bought a new position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,840 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,710,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 16.6% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AYI stock opened at $322.07 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $308.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $269.78. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $181.18 and a 1-year high of $337.99. The company has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40. 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 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 business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

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.