Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC

Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC cut its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 31.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,571 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 11,644 shares during the period. Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Acuity Brands worth $7,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $231.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $299.28. The stock has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.16%.

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.

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