Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 10,064 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 46.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,404 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 10,064 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the third 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 during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.0 %

AYI stock opened at $316.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $266.04. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $176.93 and a 1-year high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 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 is currently 4.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

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

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.