Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 61.3% in the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised 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 during the period. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 208.1% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 530 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $249.54 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.80. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.30 and a fifty-two week high of $272.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

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.