Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lessened its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,723 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 3,984 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.10% of Acuity Brands worth $6,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,365,821 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $573,233,000 after acquiring an additional 17,459 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $187,987,000 after purchasing an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $143,907,000 after purchasing an additional 247,774 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $139,667,000 after purchasing an additional 89,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $120,585,000 after purchasing an additional 187,128 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI stock traded up $2.48 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $249.54. 216,214 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 268,411. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.30 and a 52-week high of $272.74. The stock has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock's 50-day moving average is $255.81 and its 200 day moving average is $217.31.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued 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 0.24%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $289.25.

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.