New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 5,404 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,225 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 5,404 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.48% of Acuity Brands worth $30,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 508.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 341 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 61.3% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 20.0% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $251.73 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $256.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.30 and a 1-year high of $272.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

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 dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend 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%.

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.