Cresset Asset Management LLC Has $210,000 Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Cresset Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 90.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 718 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 6,770 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $261.75. 150,251 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 302,970. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $292.37.

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 for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. Acuity Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Acuity Brands 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.