UMB Bank n.a. Purchases 78 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 45.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 78 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $66,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.2% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 69.4% during the first quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 520 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 82.7% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,451 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 29,415.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $59,852,000 after purchasing an additional 226,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 192.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,615 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,697 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $265.34 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The stock has a market cap of $8.20 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $253.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $285.45.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AYI. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.60.

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.