Covestor Ltd Has $118,000 Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 12.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 427 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $83,430,000 after purchasing an additional 271,485 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 187.8% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $79,755,000 after acquiring an additional 215,547 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 353.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $41,934,000 after acquiring an additional 135,350 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 107,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at about $25,188,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $332.26 on Wednesday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.67 and a 1 year high of $334.66. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $288.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $262.85. The firm has a market cap of $10.25 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.40.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.