Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Acquires New Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,951 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $813,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AYI. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after buying an additional 271,485 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 187.8% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $79,755,000 after purchasing an additional 215,547 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 353.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $41,934,000 after purchasing an additional 135,350 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the 2nd 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at about $25,188,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Acuity Brands stock opened at $326.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $301.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $267.23. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.93 and a fifty-two week high of $337.99. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.46%.

Insider Activity

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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