Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 13.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,591 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 838 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 366.2% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after acquiring an additional 271,485 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position 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 last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position 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 last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at about $25,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $316.95 on Wednesday. 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 market capitalization of $9.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $296.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $265.60. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.93 and a 1 year high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The company 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 revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’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 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. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on AYI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.