California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 60,403 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 2,401 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $12,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Aurora Investment Counsel lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,938 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 1,854 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.9 %

Acuity Brands stock opened at $246.02 on Thursday. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $257.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.03. The company has a market capitalization 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 earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. Research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AYI. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted 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. 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s 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 owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands 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.