Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,676 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 487 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,596,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% during the fourth 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. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 20.0% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 61.3% in the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 788 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was 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 owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was 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 owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $252.16 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month high of $272.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $257.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $219.57.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. As a group, analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Acuity Brands Company 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.