UMB Bank n.a. Boosts Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 63.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 172 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 67 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $50,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 229.7% in 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 during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

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 stock was 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 owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AYI opened at $335.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $315.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.03. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.67, a PEG ratio of 2.14 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.72 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

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.