Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Trims Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lessened its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,723 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 3,984 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $6,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in Acuity Brands by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 224,289 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $45,941,000 after buying an additional 4,694 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Acuity Brands by 17.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $187,987,000 after buying an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 12.7% in the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 6,936 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after buying an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $414,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 6.0% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 285,055 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $48,548,000 after buying an additional 16,042 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE AYI opened at $247.06 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $255.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $217.31. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month high of $272.74. The firm has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.49. 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

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.