Diversified Trust Co Increases Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 83.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,119 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,323 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 229.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 3.0 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $312.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $214.32 and a one year high of $337.99. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $315.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.91.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Monday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Acuity Brands from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.00.

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.