Signaturefd LLC Purchases 285 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 508.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 341 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $70,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 0.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 247,774 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Acuity Brands by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $139,667,000 after purchasing an additional 89,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Acuity Brands by 35.8% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

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

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.9 %

AYI opened at $246.02 on Thursday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $257.62 and a 200-day moving average of $221.03. The stock has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.49.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The company had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

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.