Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Grows Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 72.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,900 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 18,900 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.15% of Acuity Brands worth $13,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI traded up $9.11 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $243.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 497,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 299,430. The stock has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The business's 50-day moving average price is $266.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $298.83. 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 $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during 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 business's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

About Acuity Brands

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.