Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 22.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,062 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 607 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $602,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $208,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at $242,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI opened at $329.96 on Wednesday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $317.10 and a 200-day moving average of $295.77.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.01%.

Acuity Brands Company 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.