Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 1,999 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC reduced its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 16.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,996 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,999 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 38.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,890 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $13,913,000 after acquiring an additional 14,329 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 148.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.0% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $6,965,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $11,281,000 after buying an additional 5,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $757,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $1.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $301.86. 348,363 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 255,360. 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 $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $276.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $258.74. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.80 and a 52-week high of $312.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.74 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

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.