Atria Investments Inc Has $1.71 Million Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Atria Investments Inc decreased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,220 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 112 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $325.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $293.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $264.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.93 and a 12 month high of $337.99. The company has a market capitalization of $10.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

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.