Squarepoint Ops LLC Sells 7,629 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Squarepoint Ops LLC lowered its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,376 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 7,629 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $9,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AYI. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.8%

Acuity Brands stock opened at $260.22 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $251.91 and a 200-day moving average of $291.69. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.16%.

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.