Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale trimmed its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,242 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 571 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $4,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $242,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $297,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE AYI opened at $300.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $158.80 and a 12 month high of $312.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $278.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.33.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its 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. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.