Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,180,326 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 135,768 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.32% of Acuity Brands worth $651,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AYI. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.75.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $238.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $154.72 and a 1 year high of $272.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $255.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.10. The stock has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.44.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The company had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Profile

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.