Cooke & Bieler LP Trims Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Cooke & Bieler LP lessened its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 602,584 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 14,390 shares during the quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 1.96% of Acuity Brands worth $123,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Acuity Brands by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $247.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $255.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.04. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.30 and a 1 year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

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.