Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 64.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,600 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,210,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Acuity Brands by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded down $2.16 on Friday, hitting $296.94. 518,025 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 308,334. The company has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $316.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. Acuity Brands's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AYI. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $341.40.

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.