Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases Shares of 2,190 Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,190 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $640,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,849,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $232,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 213.4% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,040 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 3,432 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $19,703,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,642 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Finally, William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded down $2.79 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $224.57. 523,904 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 289,670. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The company's 50 day moving average price is $287.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $303.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The business 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

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.