Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Bought by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,149,459 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 45,666 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 3.73% of Acuity Brands worth $235,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $250.04 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $256.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.82. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $154.72 and a 52 week high of $272.74. The company has a market cap of $7.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.44.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. On average, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two equities 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.