Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 45.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,540 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 2,977 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 77.3% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at $41,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 85.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Acuity Brands by 20.0% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total transaction of $1,350,660.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,925,590.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction 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 approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped 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, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI stock opened at $252.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.12. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $149.30 and a one year high of $272.74. 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 Dividend Announcement

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

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.