Shell Asset Management Co. Reduces Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Shell Asset Management Co. lowered its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,405 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI stock opened at $248.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $250.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.77. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $156.49 and a one year high of $272.74. The firm has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. Acuity Brands’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.88%.

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.