Duality Advisers LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Duality Advisers LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 74.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,083 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 3,212 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $297,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,709 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 32,859 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $5,596,000 after acquiring an additional 3,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $430,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $289.25.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $252.16. 192,083 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 262,019. 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 market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.30 and a 52-week high of $272.74. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $257.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.57.

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

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.02%.

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.