Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 337 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,850 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 337 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $6,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew 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 worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew 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 worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 508.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 341 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 61.3% during the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $251.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 79,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 263,745. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $256.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.79. 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 company has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.30 and a 12-month high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, 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 transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.