Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 30,354 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 71,230 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 30,354 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Acuity Brands worth $19,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $83,430,000 after acquiring an additional 271,485 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 187.8% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $79,755,000 after buying an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 353.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $41,934,000 after buying an additional 135,350 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $98,306,000 after acquiring an additional 107,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.1 %

Acuity Brands stock traded down $3.76 during trading on Friday, reaching $325.87. 238,516 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 255,958. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.93 and a 52-week high of $337.99. The firm has a market cap of $10.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40. The company's 50-day moving average is $293.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.34.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm 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 company posted $3.74 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 4.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price 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. Three equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $324.00.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

About Acuity Brands

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.