JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reduces Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,008,682 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 33,534 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 3.27% of Acuity Brands worth $277,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth $35,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 229.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

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 transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE AYI traded down $3.56 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $294.17. The stock had a trading volume of 173,823 shares, compared to its average volume of 261,168. The business's 50 day moving average is $314.92 and its 200-day moving average is $277.56. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $200.27 and a 52 week high of $337.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $9.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.74 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current 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.