Hancock Whitney Corp Buys 1,917 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 42.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,477 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,917 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 7.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 185,875 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $51,188,000 after purchasing an additional 12,868 shares during the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 1,584 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $690,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 7.5% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 437,745 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $120,551,000 after buying an additional 30,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $538,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE AYI opened at $329.79 on Tuesday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.93 and a 1 year high of $337.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The business’s 50-day moving average is $303.27 and its 200 day moving average is $267.75.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

About Acuity Brands

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.