377,354 Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 377,354 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $110,236,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.22% of Acuity Brands as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI traded down $24.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $233.15. 1,524,952 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 286,198. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a P/E/G 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 quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company's fifty day moving average price is $294.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $304.02.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $324.60.

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.