Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 33,116 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Bridgewater Associates LP decreased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 93.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,383 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 33,116 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $696,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $3,849,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $232,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,703,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,500 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,899,000 after buying an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AYI. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AYI traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $243.29. 95,574 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 298,629. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $264.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $298.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. 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 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.16%.

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.