Creative Planning Has $1.05 Million Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Creative Planning grew its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,811 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 38.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,890 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $13,913,000 after purchasing an additional 14,329 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in Acuity Brands by 148.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,166,000 after buying an additional 2,627 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 8.0% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $11,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth $757,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.4 %

Acuity Brands stock opened at $300.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, 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. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $158.80 and a 1-year high of $312.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $278.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $259.33.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’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 value of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AYI. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on 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 raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.