Wells Fargo & Company MN Sells 4,841 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lowered its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 58,923 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 4,841 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.19% of Acuity Brands worth $17,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $110,236,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Acuity Brands by 241.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $63,102,000 after purchasing an additional 152,807 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $31,026,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 135.8% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 180,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $52,663,000 after purchasing an additional 103,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" 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 report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE:AYI traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $229.01. 382,529 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 296,792. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $272.08 and a 200 day moving average of $300.28.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The business 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%. Acuity Brands's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.