Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,438 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 51 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $347,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

AYI stock opened at $300.21 on Thursday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.84 and a 52 week high of $303.04. The company has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $250.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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 report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands 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.