Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Has $4.95 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,940 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,335 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Acuity Brands worth $4,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,050,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 427 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other 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 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 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $1.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $336.81. 232,821 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 417,544. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $339.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $315.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million during 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 business's revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.