ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Invests $204,000 in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 995 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 224,289 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $45,941,000 after purchasing an additional 4,694 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 17.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $187,987,000 after acquiring an additional 161,818 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.7% in the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 6,936 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $414,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 285,055 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $48,548,000 after purchasing an additional 16,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Acuity Brands stock traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $247.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 253,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 269,717. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.30 and a 12 month high of $272.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $255.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.69. The company has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.49.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.