Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Acquired by Quantinno Capital Management LP

Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 20.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,663 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 5,921 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.11% of Acuity Brands worth $9,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 229.7% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 8,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

AYI traded up $1.29 on Friday, hitting $324.73. The company had a trading volume of 218,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,745. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $312.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $271.45. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $183.95 and a 12-month high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is presently 4.46%.

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.