842 Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Purchased by Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 842 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AYI traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $335.23. 85,209 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 405,811. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $339.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $315.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $285.31. The firm has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.72 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This trade 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 available at this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $341.40.

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.