Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Buys 65 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 467 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $96,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 508.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 341 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 788 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.5 %

AYI stock opened at $251.73 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $256.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.79. The company has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.05, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 12 month low of $149.30 and a 12 month high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands 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.