Apollon Wealth Management LLC Acquires 97 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,425 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AYI. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after buying an additional 271,485 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 187.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $79,755,000 after buying an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $41,934,000 after buying an additional 135,350 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after buying an additional 107,171 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at $25,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $325.87 on Friday. 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 has a 50-day moving average of $293.41 and a 200-day moving average of $264.34. The company has a market cap of $10.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $176.93 and a one year high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is presently 4.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted 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 upped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective 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, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.