Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,110 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 229.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE AYI opened at $331.40 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $337.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $315.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $282.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a PE ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.72 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

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.