Boston Trust Walden Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Boston Trust Walden Corp reduced its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 205,907 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 14,590 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned 0.67% of Acuity Brands worth $60,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $3,849,000. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $484,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $813,000. Finally, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% in the third quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 21,285 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $5,862,000 after buying an additional 2,773 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded up $4.54 on Thursday, hitting $328.65. 255,317 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 347,417. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.64 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.40. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $316.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.18.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. The company's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" 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 increased their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $341.40.

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.