Impax Asset Management Group plc Sells 43 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Impax Asset Management Group plc cut its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,533 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $307.63 on Wednesday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $316.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $299.58.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is presently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $341.40.

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.