Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Lowers Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,050 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 946 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,210,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $3,717,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,050,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Acuity Brands stock traded up $1.61 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $307.63. The company had a trading volume of 272,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 301,596. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $316.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $299.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. This is an increase from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. 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 report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $341.40.

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.