Seizert Capital Partners LLC Acquires 35,456 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Seizert Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 295,917 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,456 shares during the period. Acuity Brands comprises 3.1% of Seizert Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Seizert Capital Partners LLC owned 0.96% of Acuity Brands worth $60,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Sound Shore Management Inc CT acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,001,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $143,907,000 after buying an additional 247,774 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $120,585,000 after buying an additional 187,128 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $187,987,000 after acquiring an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $17,321,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.25.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In related news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI traded down $1.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $264.73. The stock had a trading volume of 124,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 228,340. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $259.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.47. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.30 and a 52 week high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

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.