Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Makes New $340,000 Investment in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,163 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $340,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 951 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AYI. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut 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 report on Friday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of AYI traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $228.98. The company had a trading volume of 79,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 296,161. The firm has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $272.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $300.29. 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 (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.16%.

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.