DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 4,869 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale reduced its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,017 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 4,869 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned about 0.06% of Acuity Brands worth $3,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aurora Investment Counsel lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,938 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,011,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 1,854 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,464 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $891,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $7.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $257.58. The company had a trading volume of 232,606 shares, compared to its average volume of 275,533. The stock's 50-day moving average is $254.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.30 and a 52 week high of $272.74.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.49. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The firm had revenue of $934.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $935.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.04 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. 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 0.23%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the 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 owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,590.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.