Lathrop Investment Management Corp Grows Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Lathrop Investment Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,483 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 570 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands comprises approximately 2.8% of Lathrop Investment Management Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Lathrop Investment Management Corp owned about 0.22% of Acuity Brands worth $13,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the fourth 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 Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 508.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 341 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 61.3% in the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 20.0% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AYI. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $252.16. 192,083 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 262,019. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.30 and a 1 year high of $272.74. The company has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 1.74 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $257.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.29.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. Equities analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 5.02%.

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.