Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stake Boosted by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,610 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 923 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 42.0% in the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $484,000. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the third quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 21,285 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $813,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $317.74 on Monday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $196.38 and a one year high of $337.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $315.34 and its 200-day moving average is $273.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Three research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

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.