Barry R. Goldman Sells 5,120 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stock

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $301.86 on Thursday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $158.80 and a 12-month high of $312.20. The firm has a market cap of $9.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. 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 fifty day moving average price of $277.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $259.04.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in 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. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AYI. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.