Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC Sells 710 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC decreased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 35.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 710 shares during the quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rafferty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $204,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 37,746 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $11,027,000 after acquiring an additional 3,083 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 65,103 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $19,019,000 after acquiring an additional 3,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $1,185,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE AYI opened at $273.23 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $293.05. The company has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.60.

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.