5,639 Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Acquired by Redwood Investment Management LLC

Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,639 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,515,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in Acuity Brands by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 19.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 349 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $2.33 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $251.35. 191,385 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 265,923. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $249.95 and a 200 day moving average of $251.12. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.49 and a 1 year high of $272.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business had revenue of $968.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.00.

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.