JPMorgan Chase & Co. Decreases Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 921,480 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 87,202 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 2.98% of Acuity Brands worth $269,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AYI. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.1% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 92.6% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 3,157 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $3,273,000. Atom Investors LP acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $2,710,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 33.3% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $24.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $233.15. 1,524,952 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 286,290. 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 has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $294.09 and a 200 day moving average of $303.75.

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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. The company 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%. Acuity Brands'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 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. 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 presently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $324.60.

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.