Federated Hermes Inc. Has $3.85 Million Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,169 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,847,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 56.0% in the third 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 period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,642 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $279,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position 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 worth $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 3,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 8,610 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 923 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $229.01. 382,529 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 296,583. The company has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business's 50 day moving average is $273.97 and its 200-day moving average is $300.76.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio 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.