New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 123,641 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 13,940 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $36,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,210,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $320.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $317.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $296.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.72 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

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.