Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 13.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,584 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at $1,706,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at $25,188,000. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its position in Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 21,285 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,773 shares during the period. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $484,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of AYI opened at $326.24 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.93 and a 12 month high of $337.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $301.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.31. 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 results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. Analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.46%.

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.