Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $19.62 Million Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,230 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 30,354 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Acuity Brands worth $19,616,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 427 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 16.6% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 352 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,541 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $613,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $303.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $315.29 and a 200 day moving average of $276.68. 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 $200.27 and a 12 month high of $337.99. The company has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.54, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39.

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 company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. 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 research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

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.