Insider Selling: Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) SVP Sells 5,120 Shares of Stock

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded down $2.48 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $303.54. 291,558 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,915. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.88, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $157.34 and a 12-month high of $312.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.42.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $324.00.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after acquiring an additional 271,485 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 187.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $79,755,000 after purchasing an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $41,934,000 after buying an additional 135,350 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 107,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $25,188,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.