Norges Bank Makes New $110.24 Million Investment in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 377,354 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $110,236,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.22% of Acuity Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AYI. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,026,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 135.8% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 180,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $52,663,000 after buying an additional 103,818 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $19,703,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Acuity Brands by 741.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 71,744 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $20,959,000 after acquiring an additional 63,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 345.0% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 72,761 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $21,404,000 after acquiring an additional 56,409 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 9.4 %

AYI stock traded down $24.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $233.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,524,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 286,198. The stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $294.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $304.28.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $324.60.

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.