Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Has $725,000 Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 45.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,540 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 2,977 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in 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 buying an additional 4,694 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $187,987,000 after acquiring an additional 161,818 shares during the period. Pathstone Family Office LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 784 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $414,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.0% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 285,055 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $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, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,590.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,590.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $252.39 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $254.99 and a 200-day moving average of $215.12. The company has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.59. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.30 and a 52-week high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AYI. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on 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 boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.