Venturi Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 16.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 352 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $97,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,783 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $11,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 33.9% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 38,071 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $10,231,000 after acquiring an additional 9,630 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Acuity Brands by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 148.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.3 %

AYI opened at $329.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $176.93 and a one year high of $337.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $291.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $263.88.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands 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 sale, the senior vice president now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands 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.