FIL Ltd Boosts Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 436,060 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 9,513 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned approximately 1.41% of Acuity Brands worth $127,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock traded up $3.51 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $243.27. The company had a trading volume of 38,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 292,781. The company has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $281.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $302.26.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.60.

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.