McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. Raises Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. increased its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,285 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,773 shares during the period. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. owned 0.07% of Acuity Brands worth $5,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 38.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,890 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $13,913,000 after buying an additional 14,329 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 148.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in Acuity Brands by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,965,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 15.0% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at about $757,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $3.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $307.56. 17,965 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 255,055. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.84 and a 1 year high of $312.20. The company has a market cap of $9.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $262.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $256.10.

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. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted 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, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

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.