State of Alaska Department of Revenue Increases Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,552 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 148.4% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 8.0% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,281,000 after buying an additional 5,474 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $757,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter worth $1,706,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on 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 upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $314.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.28 and a 1 year high of $315.11. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $282.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.74 EPS. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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.