Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 187 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,760 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 187 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.13% of Acuity Brands worth $7,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.0% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,709 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 32,859 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,596,000 after purchasing an additional 3,590 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $430,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $305,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 14.0% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 33,707 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,741,000 after purchasing an additional 4,140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.6 %

AYI stock opened at $254.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.47. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $257.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.24. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.30 and a fifty-two week high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. As a group, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased 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. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on 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 lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. 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, the stock currently has an average 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.