Commerce Bank Takes Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Commerce Bank bought a new stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 837 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the third 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 during the third quarter worth about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $320.16 on Thursday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.93 and a 1 year high of $337.99. The firm has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40. 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 50 day simple moving average of $305.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $268.53.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.74 EPS. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

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.