Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) is Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.'s 8th Largest Position

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 8,705 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands accounts for about 1.2% of Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 3.62% of Acuity Brands worth $327,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AYI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $110,236,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Acuity Brands by 241.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $63,102,000 after purchasing an additional 152,807 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $31,026,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 135.8% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 180,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $52,663,000 after purchasing an additional 103,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.3 %

AYI stock opened at $231.77 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $268.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $299.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $317.60.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.