Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,830 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 3,336 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.21% of Acuity Brands worth $18,939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $3,849,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $232,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $19,703,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,642 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,495,000 after buying an additional 2,323 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $229.01. The stock had a trading volume of 382,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 296,792. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The firm's 50 day moving average is $272.08 and its 200-day moving average is $300.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. Acuity Brands's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $317.60.

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.