Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Acquired by Intrepid Capital Management Inc.

Intrepid Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 480.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,088 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,349 shares during the period. Acuity Brands comprises 1.5% of Intrepid Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Intrepid Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 16.6% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 352 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AYI traded up $0.58 on Tuesday, hitting $322.65. 7,076 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,483. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $308.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $269.78. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $181.18 and a 1 year high of $337.99.

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

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of 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 upped their price target 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. 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.