Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,594 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 4,654 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.18% of Acuity Brands worth $15,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded up $3.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $243.03. 13,564 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 292,700. The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The stock's fifty day moving average is $281.24 and its 200 day moving average is $302.26. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

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.