Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 219 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC cut its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYIFree Report) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,479 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 219 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $152,085,000 after buying an additional 20,832 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 303.8% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 21,000 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,070,000 after purchasing an additional 15,800 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $537,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,167 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,989 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.0 %

Acuity Brands stock opened at $330.70 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $337.99. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $315.63 and a 200-day moving average of $283.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYIGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $341.40.

Get Our Latest Report on AYI

Acuity Brands Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI)

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