Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stock Holdings Decreased by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund reduced its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,643 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 3,034 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned about 0.14% of Acuity Brands worth $10,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in Acuity Brands by 14.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AYI. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $306.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $252.99 and a 200-day moving average of $254.39. The company has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.84 and a 52 week high of $307.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.77.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

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.