Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Decreases Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd decreased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,805 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 2,275 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $329.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $303.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.93 and a 12-month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AYI. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective 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. 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of 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, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of 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 given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.