Martingale Asset Management L P Sells 18,642 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Martingale Asset Management L P lessened its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 35.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,323 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 18,642 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P owned 0.11% of Acuity Brands worth $9,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AYI. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

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

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Acuity Brands stock opened at $320.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $307.42 and its 200 day moving average is $269.30. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $176.93 and a 1-year high of $337.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.74 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.