Boston Trust Walden Corp Buys 4,694 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 224,289 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 4,694 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned approximately 0.73% of Acuity Brands worth $45,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 17.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $187,987,000 after purchasing an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.7% in the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 6,936 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $414,000. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 6.0% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 285,055 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $48,548,000 after purchasing an additional 16,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Genus Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 15.3% in the third quarter. Genus Capital Management Inc. now owns 39,135 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $6,665,000 after purchasing an additional 5,205 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $265.40.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded up $7.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $272.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 309,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 274,563. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.30 and a 1-year high of $272.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $209.67.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $934.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $935.14 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 13.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,590.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,645 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,128 in the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.