Venturi Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 77.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 58 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth about $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 20.0% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 2,926.7% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 454 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total value of $429,419.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares in the company, valued at $1,946,172.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total value of $429,419.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares in the company, valued at $1,946,172.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,645 shares of company stock worth $3,811,128. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $272.12 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $251.61 and a 200 day moving average of $209.67. The company has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.30 and a 1-year high of $272.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.85.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.49. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. The firm had revenue of $934.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $935.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 13.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

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.