Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Clark Estates Inc. NY

Clark Estates Inc. NY lowered its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 7.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,950 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,150 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands makes up approximately 0.7% of Clark Estates Inc. NY’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Clark Estates Inc. NY’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird upped 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 Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.9 %

AYI opened at $323.38 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $304.44 and its 200-day moving average is $268.17. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.93 and a 52-week high of $337.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.74 EPS. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.46%.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.