California Public Employees Retirement System Has $19.48 Million Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 66,666 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 5,353 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.22% of Acuity Brands worth $19,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 431.2% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 84,953 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $24,991,000 after acquiring an additional 68,959 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings 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 worth $63,102,000 after acquiring an additional 152,807 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,465 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,597,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,187 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $174,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. 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.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 10.3 %

AYI traded up $23.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $246.41. 568,847 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 291,231. The stock has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The stock's 50-day moving average is $284.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $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 (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.16%.

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.