Lathrop Investment Management Corp Has $13.62 Million Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Lathrop Investment Management Corp increased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 66,483 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands accounts for about 2.8% of Lathrop Investment Management Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Lathrop Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $13,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during 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 worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during 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 worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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 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 owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 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 owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Robert W. Baird upped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded up $0.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $252.16. 192,083 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 262,019. The company has a market capitalization 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 current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $257.01 and its 200 day moving average is $219.29. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.30 and a 1 year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The business had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 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.