Atom Investors LP Invests $2.71 Million in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Atom Investors LP purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,840 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,710,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,273,000. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 92.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,808,000 after buying an additional 3,157 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 9.3% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 269,043 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $74,092,000 after buying an additional 22,781 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 76.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 35,499 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $9,776,000 after buying an additional 15,433 shares during the period. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 owns 8,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $1.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $323.13. The company had a trading volume of 88,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,801. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.39. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $308.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $269.78. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $181.18 and a fifty-two week high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

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.