Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 1,249 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 11th, 2023

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI – Get Rating) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,580 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,249 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.2% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 20,688 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.0% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 12,834 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,429,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,982,396 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $564,568,000 after purchasing an additional 25,598 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,395,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 9.1% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 19,747 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Friday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $188.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $170.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $190.01 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $185.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.55. The company has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.59. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.71 and a twelve month high of $202.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.70 by $0.34. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 21.40%. The business had revenue of $997.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $984.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 12.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 2,211 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.31, for a total transaction of $385,399.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,009,429.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,238 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.51, for a total transaction of $739,573.38. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,941,540.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 2,211 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.31, for a total transaction of $385,399.41. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,009,429.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Acuity Brands

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Acuity Brands, Inc operates as an industrial technology company, which engages in the provision of lighting and building management solutions and services. It operates through the Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls and Intelligent Spaces Group segments. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.