Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 49,102 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,401 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.16% of Acuity Brands worth $13,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,149,459 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $235,444,000 after buying an additional 45,666 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $201,728,000 after purchasing an additional 20,537 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Acuity Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $152,085,000 after purchasing an additional 20,832 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 16.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $106,201,000 after purchasing an additional 63,159 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after purchasing an additional 107,171 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AYI. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $308.91 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $260.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.84 and a 12 month high of $310.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.50 billion, a PE ratio of 25.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.88%.

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.