BNP Paribas Financial Markets Decreases Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 54.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,800 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 6,849 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,694,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,210,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 951 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 1,896 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of AYI stock opened at $273.23 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The company has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 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.