Raymond James & Associates Grows Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,738 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 4,879 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.12% of Acuity Brands worth $7,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 208.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 530 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2,926.7% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 454 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $4.06 on Monday, hitting $267.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 227,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 273,860. The company has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.04. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.30 and a 1 year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $934.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $935.14 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. Acuity Brands's revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 13.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total value of $429,419.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,946,172.11. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total transaction 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total value of $429,419.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,946,172.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,645 shares of company stock valued at $3,811,128 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $289.25.

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.