Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 23,235 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 174.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,553 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 23,235 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.12% of Acuity Brands worth $7,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 508.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 341 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 61.3% during the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $260.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.59. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $258.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $223.74. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.30 and a fifty-two week high of $272.74.

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. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. As a group, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.