ORG Wealth Partners LLC Takes $29,000 Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 98 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 229.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Acuity Brands in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $328.20.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other 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 value of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $305.19 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $315.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $280.59. The firm has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.