New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $30.16 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 147,225 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 5,404 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.48% of Acuity Brands worth $30,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 508.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 341 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Acuity Brands stock traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $252.08. 192,083 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 265,199. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.30 and a 12-month high of $272.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.59. The stock has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.49. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $257.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.29.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Robert W. Baird increased 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. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. 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 report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price 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 research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $289.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 200 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands 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.