Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 147,225 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 5,404 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $30,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 70.6% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 5,800 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 508.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 341 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 84.3% in the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 4,457 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $251.73 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $256.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $218.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised 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 shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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 lifted their target price 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. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.