11,886 Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Acquired by Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,886 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,273,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 352 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

Acuity Brands stock opened at $322.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of 23.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $181.18 and a 12 month high of $337.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $308.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $269.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.