Captrust Financial Advisors Has $48.12 Million Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Captrust Financial Advisors lessened its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 38.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 164,727 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 104,316 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $48,122,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $906,930,000 after acquiring an additional 16,407 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $327,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $188,211,000 after purchasing an additional 17,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 603,446 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $176,285,000 after buying an additional 61,765 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.0 %

AYI opened at $252.80 on Tuesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $254.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $295.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.62, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped 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 shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Company 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.