Earnest Partners LLC Sells 25,861 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Earnest Partners LLC lessened its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 250,322 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 25,861 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 0.81% of Acuity Brands worth $73,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $110,236,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Acuity Brands by 241.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $63,102,000 after buying an additional 152,807 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $31,026,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 135.8% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 180,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $52,663,000 after acquiring an additional 103,818 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $326,452,000 after acquiring an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock traded up $2.06 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $243.76. The company had a trading volume of 422,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 301,949. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $259.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $297.04. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report 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. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $317.60.

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.