Parallel Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Parallel Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,452 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 42 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $266.82 on Thursday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.64 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $308.87 and its 200 day moving average is $302.96. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.72 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.40.

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.