Two Sigma Advisers LP Cuts Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Two Sigma Advisers LP cut its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 61.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,700 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 50,000 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned about 0.10% of Acuity Brands worth $9,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AYI. 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 note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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 note on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE AYI traded up $3.74 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $263.88. The stock had a trading volume of 194,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,190. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $251.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.77. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The firm 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share 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 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 of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.