Barclays PLC Has $18.60 Million Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Barclays PLC lowered its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,533 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 12,218 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.22% of Acuity Brands worth $18,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.4% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,240 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,855 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 57.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,857 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $3,587,000 after acquiring an additional 5,435 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 33.7% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.9% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 6,429 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI traded down $5.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $317.74. 227,413 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 256,264. 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 company has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.64, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $315.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $273.73. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $196.38 and a one year high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.74 EPS. Acuity Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was 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. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer raised 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $324.00.

About Acuity Brands

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.