Private Client Services LLC Purchases Shares of 4,713 Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Private Client Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,713 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,377,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Acuity Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $266,865,000 after purchasing an additional 12,479 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $201,728,000 after purchasing an additional 20,537 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $152,085,000 after buying an additional 20,832 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,810 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $172,654,000 after buying an additional 34,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $106,201,000 after buying an additional 63,159 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI traded up $6.98 on Wednesday, hitting $310.85. 280,779 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 446,905. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $314.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.68. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $214.32 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The firm has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Acuity Brands from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased 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. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.00.

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.