SouthState Corp Sells 60 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

SouthState Corp reduced its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,794 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AYI. FMR LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,365,821 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $573,233,000 after buying an additional 17,459 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $187,987,000 after purchasing an additional 161,818 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $143,907,000 after purchasing an additional 247,774 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $139,667,000 after purchasing an additional 89,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.8% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $120,585,000 after purchasing an additional 187,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded up $3.94 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $254.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 203,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 232,739. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.30 and a fifty-two week high of $272.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $257.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $221.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $7.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.47.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AYI. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.25.

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.