Amalgamated Bank Decreases Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 16.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,005 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 2,922 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $4,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective 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 lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $5.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $330.19. 200,094 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 246,630. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $168.32 and a 12-month high of $331.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $286.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $262.16. The company has a market cap of $10.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. Acuity Brands's 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. On average, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.