Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 4,553 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 27,026 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 4,553 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned approximately 0.09% of Acuity Brands worth $5,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,365,821 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $573,233,000 after purchasing an additional 17,459 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 17.2% during the 3rd 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 period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $143,907,000 after acquiring an additional 247,774 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $139,667,000 after purchasing an additional 89,192 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 35.8% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $120,585,000 after purchasing an additional 187,128 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of AYI traded down $1.54 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $263.44. 140,556 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,691. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.30 and a 52 week high of $272.74. The company has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $260.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective 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. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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 report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.25.

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.