Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. decreased its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,639 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 203 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $9,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew 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 valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI traded up $3.64 on Wednesday, reaching $252.66. 29,690 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 264,802. The stock has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.49 and a twelve month high of $272.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $250.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $251.12.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.00.

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.