Bank of America Corp DE lessened its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 227,577 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 26,974 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.74% of Acuity Brands worth $66,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $581,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 479.2% in the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 307 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $290,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $202,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $516,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $317.60.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on AYI
Acuity Brands Stock Performance
Shares of AYI stock traded up $1.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $273.23. The stock had a trading volume of 145,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,607. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $251.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.
Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.38 earnings per share. Acuity Brands's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.
Acuity Brands Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.16%.
About Acuity Brands
(
Free Report)
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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