Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Trims Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 63,684 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 12,872 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $13,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 5,800 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 508.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 341 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 84.3% during the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 4,457 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of AYI traded up $2.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $252.59. The stock had a trading volume of 5,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 265,007. The firm has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $255.97 and its 200 day moving average is $217.80. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.30 and a 52-week high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.