Aigen Investment Management LP Invests $484,000 in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,759 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $484,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $329.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a PE ratio of 24.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $291.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $263.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.93 and a 52-week high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.