Trium Capital LLP Acquires 882 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Trium Capital LLP lifted its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 52.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,562 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 882 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands makes up approximately 0.1% of Trium Capital LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Trium Capital LLP's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $0.05 on Friday, hitting $330.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 263,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 340,041. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.64 and a fifty-two week high of $337.99. The company has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's 50 day moving average is $315.63 and its 200-day moving average is $283.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. The business's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.80% 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.