GSA Capital Partners LLP Sells 3,711 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

GSA Capital Partners LLP reduced its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 51.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 3,711 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 148.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 2,627 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at about $757,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the first quarter worth about $1,706,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.1 %

AYI stock opened at $325.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50 day moving average of $293.41 and a 200 day moving average of $264.34. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.93 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The firm has a market cap of $10.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.