EAM Investors LLC Invests $4.14 Million in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

EAM Investors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 14,179 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,142,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AYI. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 56.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $753,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.3% during the third 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. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,026,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $83,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AYI. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird dropped 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Acuity Brands stock traded down $1.32 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $227.70. 129,513 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 296,331. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $272.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $300.29. The firm has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G 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 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.