Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stock Holdings Increased by Diversified Trust Co

Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 83.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,119 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,323 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 8.0% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $6,965,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,849,000. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 42.0% in 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. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $484,000. Finally, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 21,285 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $5,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,773 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 that occurred 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 $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Monday. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $304.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI traded up $9.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $312.99. The stock had a trading volume of 552,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 503,714. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $214.32 and a 52 week high of $337.99. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $315.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.14.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.72 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.