State Street Corp Buys 12,479 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

State Street Corp grew its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,479 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 3.14% of Acuity Brands worth $266,865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third 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 period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in Acuity Brands by 229.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Acuity Brands stock opened at $319.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.64 and a 52-week high of $337.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $313.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $271.96. The firm has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.75, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during 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%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.74 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 4.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target 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. Robert W. Baird raised 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value 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. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Company 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.