Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC Takes Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,443 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 366.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after purchasing an additional 271,485 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position 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 valued at $79,755,000 after purchasing an additional 215,547 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $41,934,000 after purchasing an additional 135,350 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after purchasing an additional 107,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at about $25,188,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $301.86 on Thursday. 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 cap of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $158.80 and a 1 year high of $312.20. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $277.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.04.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. 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 Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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 lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

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.