Cerity Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 13.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,504 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 290 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 437,745 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $120,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,581 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $538,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $813,000. Commerce Bank purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Acuity Brands stock opened at $324.73 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $183.95 and a 52 week high of $337.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $312.84 and a 200-day moving average of $271.45.

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

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AYI shares. 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price 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. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.