Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Bought by Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 213.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,040 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 3,432 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,388,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 229.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE:AYI traded down $5.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $317.74. The stock had a trading volume of 227,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,264. 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 company has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.38 and a 1-year high of $337.99. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $315.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $273.45.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.74 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.