Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets trimmed its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 54.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,800 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 6,849 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,694,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,210,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 951 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 1,896 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.8%

Acuity Brands stock traded down $2.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $260.22. 139,207 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 303,284. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.16, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $251.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $291.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. 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 revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

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.