ORG Wealth Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 98 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 353.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $41,934,000 after buying an additional 135,350 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,026,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after acquiring an additional 107,171 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 16.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $106,201,000 after purchasing an additional 63,159 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 296.2% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 47,559 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,493,000 after purchasing an additional 35,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $305.19 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $315.23 and its 200 day moving average is $280.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on AYI shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $328.20.

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.