Hilltop National Bank Decreases Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Hilltop National Bank lowered its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 470 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 229.7% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $305.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $315.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.59. The stock has a market capitalization 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced 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 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Acuity Brands in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $328.20.

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.