World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 112,662 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $31,026,000. Acuity Brands comprises 0.8% of World Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. World Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.37% of Acuity Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $266,865,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $201,728,000 after acquiring an additional 20,537 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $152,085,000 after acquiring an additional 20,832 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,810 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $172,654,000 after acquiring an additional 34,032 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $106,201,000 after acquiring an additional 63,159 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.
Acuity Brands Stock Performance
Acuity Brands stock traded down $0.72 during trading on Thursday, reaching $322.78. The company had a trading volume of 191,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,384. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $314.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $272.72. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $188.63 and a 52 week high of $337.99.
Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Acuity Brands Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 4.46%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other 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 value of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $324.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Acuity Brands
Acuity Brands Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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