AIA Group Ltd Buys 2,039 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 84.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,457 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,039 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 20.0% in the third 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 last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AYI stock opened at $247.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month high of $272.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.69.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

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.