Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 34.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,694 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sound Shore Management Inc CT purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,001,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $143,907,000 after purchasing an additional 247,774 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $120,585,000 after purchasing an additional 187,128 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $187,987,000 after buying an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $17,321,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI stock opened at $262.27 on Thursday. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $258.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.47. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.30 and a 1-year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The business had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.25.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by 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.