Acuity Brands, Inc. (AYI) Stake Boosted by BlackRock Inc.

BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,839,265 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,931 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. owned 0.07% of Acuity Brands worth $395,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Glen Harbor Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Glen Harbor Capital Management LLC now owns 4,658 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 861.7% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 87,448 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $12,171,000 after purchasing an additional 78,355 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 481,724 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $67,051,000 after purchasing an additional 27,600 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 53.5% during the 1st quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 31,006 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,316,000 after purchasing an additional 10,806 shares during the period. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 57.1% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,650 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period.

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AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. ValuEngine cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 2nd. Roth Capital set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, March 16th. Williams Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $175.00 to $151.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 5th. Finally, JMP Securities raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.82.

Shares of Acuity Brands opened at $121.50 on Friday, according to MarketBeat Ratings. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.15. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.98 and a 52 week high of $208.82.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 4th. The electronics maker reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $832.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $799.33 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.68% and a return on equity of 20.56%. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 4th that permits the company to repurchase 6,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the electronics maker to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

In other news, Director W. Patrick Battle bought 1,330 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $112.91 per share, for a total transaction of $150,170.30. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,809 shares in the company, valued at $317,164.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director George Douglas Dillard, Jr. bought 5,000 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $112.76 per share, for a total transaction of $563,800.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity Brands Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting and building management solutions and services for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure, and residential applications in North America and internationally. The company offers lighting and controls products and solutions, such as recessed, surface, and suspended lighting; down, decorative, emergency and exit, track, day, special-use, street and roadway, parking garage, landscape, and underwater lighting; area pedestrian, flood, and decorative site lighting; occupancy sensors; photo controls; relay panels; architectural dimming panels; and integrated lighting controls systems.

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