Lingohr Asset Management GmbH Increases Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Lingohr Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 65.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,815 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,907 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands comprises about 3.2% of Lingohr Asset Management GmbH’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after buying an additional 271,485 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 187.8% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $79,755,000 after acquiring an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $41,934,000 after acquiring an additional 135,350 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,306,000 after purchasing an additional 107,171 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $25,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $323.47 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.93 and a 12-month high of $337.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $296.58 and a 200-day moving average of $265.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its 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. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

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.