Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Acquires 3,432 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 213.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,040 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,432 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $31,026,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $279,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 24,186 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,595,000 after buying an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 26.1% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 81,700 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $22,499,000 after buying an additional 16,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $266,865,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of AYI stock opened at $317.74 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.38 and a 1-year high of $337.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.64, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $315.12 and a 200-day moving average of $273.07.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.74 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is currently 4.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

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.