Meritage Portfolio Management Lowers Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,850 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 337 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management owned about 0.11% of Acuity Brands worth $6,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Sound Shore Management Inc CT acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $61,001,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 41.5% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $143,907,000 after buying an additional 247,774 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.8% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $120,585,000 after buying an additional 187,128 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $17,321,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:AYI traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $251.64. 79,240 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 263,745. The stock has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.05, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month high of $272.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $256.78 and a 200 day moving average of $218.79.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped 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. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.25.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.