Why These 5 Stocks Have Spiked Today: What You Need to Know

Shares of Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) are trading up by more than 8.3% this afternoon, along with numerous other money management firms that service individuals, after the U.S Labor Department’s new standards to protect savers from conflicted investment advice were announced. The weaker than expected rules “will probably preserve more of the profits of the wealth management firms than expected,” Morningstar’s Michael Wong stated. Other stocks on the rise include LPL Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LPLA), Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP), and Charles Schwab Corp (NYSE:SCHW).

Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) counts even more hedge fund supporters than the stocks mentioned on the previous page. 18 funds among those we track were long the stock at the end of the fourth quarter, and held more than 10% of the company’s float. A noteworthy position was that of Glenn Greenberg’s Brave Warrior Capital, which held ownership of 2.96 million shares of the company.

Also on the rise in Wednesday trading is Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI), which is up by more than 10.5% after it announced its second quarter financial results for fiscal year 2016. Earnings of $1.80 per share beat estimates by $0.29, while revenue of $777.8 million, up by 26.2% year-over-year, came in $25.54 million above the Street’s consensus estimate. Looking forward, CEO Vernon Nagel said, “Third-party forecasts as well as key leading indicators suggest that the growth rate for the North American lighting market…will be in the mid-to-upper single digit range for fiscal 2016 with expectations that overall demand in our end markets will continue to experience solid growth over the next several years.”

Among the funds that we track, 31 held long positions in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) at the end of the fourth quarter, though their combined stakes accounted for only 3.1% of the company’s shares. The largest of those stakes was held by Ken Heebner’s Capital Growth Management, which held 265,000 shares of the company valued at more than $61 million on December 31.

Finally, there’s Global Payments Inc (NYSE:GPN), which is trading up by roughly 8.75% this afternoon, driven by the announcement of the company’s third quarter financial results for fiscal year 2016. Earnings of $0.70 per share came in $0.03 ahead of estimates, while $496.97 million in revenue also topped estimates, by $3.1 million. In addition, management declared a $0.01 per share quarterly dividend payment, in-line with the previously stated dividend.

Global Payments Inc (NYSE:GPN) counted the support of 28 hedge funds in our database as of the end of the fourth quarter. Among them was, once again, Renaissance Technologies, which held 1.15 million shares of the company, as well as Panayotis Takis Sparaggis’ Alkeon Capital Management, which opened a new stake comprised of 825,000 shares during the quarter.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article.