Caprock Group LLC Invests $251,000 in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 911 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Acuity Brands stock opened at $326.24 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.93 and a 12-month high of $337.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $301.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $267.31.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released 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. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Acuity Brands Company 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.