Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. reduced its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI – Get Rating) by 55.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,412 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,743 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 277.8% in the first quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 136 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Pinebridge Investments L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $127,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.9% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 897 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. 94.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands
In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 5,438 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.20, for a total value of $838,539.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,642,679.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 5,438 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.20, for a total transaction of $838,539.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,642,679.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura O’shaughnessy purchased 575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $174.54 per share, for a total transaction of $100,360.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,479 shares in the company, valued at $258,144.66. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.
Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.1 %
Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $160.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.51. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.71 and a 12-month high of $224.59. The company has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.
Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 30th. The electronics maker reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.50. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 9.43%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.62 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 15th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 14th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Cowen dropped their price target on Acuity Brands to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, July 4th. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 1st. Credit Suisse Group dropped their price target on Acuity Brands from $241.00 to $211.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 27th. Finally, William Blair lowered Acuity Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.57.
Acuity Brands Company Profile
(Get Rating)
Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting and building management solutions in North America and internationally. The company operates through 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 Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Gotham, Mark Architectural Lighting, Winona Lighting, Juno, Indy, Aculux, Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Sunoptics, eldoLED, nLight, Sensor Switch, IOTA, A-Light, Cyclone, Eureka, Lumniaire LED, Luminis, Dark to Light, and RELOC Wiring Solutions brands.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AYI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI – Get Rating).
Receive News & Ratings for Acuity Brands Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Acuity Brands and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.
