Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC Sells 12,000 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,000 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 12,000 shares during the quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Acuity Brands worth $10,517,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AYI. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI traded down $5.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $323.46. 188,631 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 291,011. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $316.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.14. The firm has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company's revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

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.