Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Sells 1,335 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,940 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,335 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $4,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,717,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.7% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 427 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $341.40.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI opened at $335.57 on Wednesday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $337.99. The company has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $315.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.63.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. Research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.