Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 190 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,122 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 190 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $340,000. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $207,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 5,335 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 28,678 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $8,378,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $6,095,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $236.30 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $277.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $301.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $317.60.

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.