Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,284 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. cut its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,095 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,284 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $12.62 on Monday, reaching $284.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 435,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 311,509. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $316.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $301.44. 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 Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $955.60 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. The business's revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Acuity Brands 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.