Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Trims Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank cut its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,360 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 4,388 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned about 0.07% of Acuity Brands worth $6,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at about $3,849,000. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 42.0% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $484,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $813,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $462,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $257.33 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $345.30. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $312.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $302.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41.

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Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.72 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This is an increase from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $341.40.

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.

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