Moran Wealth Management LLC Trims Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Moran Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,948 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 263 shares during the quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC owned about 0.08% of Acuity Brands worth $7,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $268.28 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $314.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.70. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The company has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 posted $3.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AYI. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.