Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $13.04 Million Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 63,684 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 12,872 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.21% of Acuity Brands worth $13,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 224,289 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $45,941,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $187,987,000 after purchasing an additional 161,818 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.7% during the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 6,936 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $414,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 285,055 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $48,548,000 after acquiring an additional 16,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $2.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $252.59. 5,487 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 265,007. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.80. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.