Alberta Investment Management Corp Decreases Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Alberta Investment Management Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 18.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,573 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 7,644 shares during the quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp owned 0.11% of Acuity Brands worth $7,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,365,821 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $573,233,000 after buying an additional 17,459 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 161,818 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Acuity Brands by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $143,907,000 after purchasing an additional 247,774 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Acuity Brands by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $139,667,000 after purchasing an additional 89,192 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in Acuity Brands by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $120,585,000 after purchasing an additional 187,128 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.0 %

AYI stock traded up $2.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $259.61. The company had a trading volume of 305,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 204,994. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The company has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $259.61 and a 200 day moving average of $235.28. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.30 and a 12 month high of $272.74.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.