Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Raises Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 74.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,152 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,201 shares during the quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.'s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $906,930,000 after purchasing an additional 16,407 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after buying an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $266,865,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $188,211,000 after acquiring an additional 17,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $110,236,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 5.4 %

Acuity Brands stock traded down $13.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $232.52. The stock had a trading volume of 146,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 290,710. The stock has a market cap of $7.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $284.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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.