Renaissance Technologies LLC Raises Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 22.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 100,100 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 18,600 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.32% of Acuity Brands worth $29,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $110,236,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 241.8% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $63,102,000 after acquiring an additional 152,807 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,026,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 135.8% in the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $326,452,000 after acquiring an additional 103,162 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $2.57 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $236.30. 455,142 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 294,958. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $279.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $302.04. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $317.60.

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.