Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP lowered its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 93.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,383 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 33,116 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $696,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,849,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $232,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $19,703,000. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,500 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AYI opened at $229.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $272.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $300.28.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AYI. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $317.60.

About Acuity Brands

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.