Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC decreased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,083 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 957 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $110,236,000. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,026,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 135.8% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 180,272 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $52,663,000 after buying an additional 103,818 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,703,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 741.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 71,744 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $20,959,000 after acquiring an additional 63,221 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 9.4 %

AYI stock opened at $233.15 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $294.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $303.75. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.38 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AYI. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.60.

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.