Van ECK Associates Corp Has $5.78 Million Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 40.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,512 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 5,575 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.06% of Acuity Brands worth $5,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position 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 worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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 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 raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Three research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE AYI traded up $3.72 during trading on Friday, reaching $328.07. 57,185 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,913. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $283.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $261.16. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.32 and a 1-year high of $331.89. The company has a market cap of $10.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. 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 is currently 4.46%.

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 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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.