Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 40.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,512 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,575 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.06% of Acuity Brands worth $5,783,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 366.2% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $83,430,000 after purchasing an additional 271,485 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 187.8% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $79,755,000 after acquiring an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Acuity Brands by 353.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $41,934,000 after acquiring an additional 135,350 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after acquiring an additional 107,171 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,188,000. Hedge funds and other 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.3 %

AYI opened at $324.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $168.32 and a twelve month high of $331.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $283.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $261.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

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.