Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Decreases Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL reduced its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,345 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% during 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. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 900.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock traded up $3.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $248.33. The stock had a trading volume of 297,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,105. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $250.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $250.63. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.49 and a 1-year high of $272.74. The stock has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.77.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.00.

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.