Sanctuary Advisors LLC Has $3.60 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,066 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 149 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer lifted 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $317.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $199.47 and a 1 year high of $337.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $315.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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