Geode Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 17,299 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.08% of Acuity Brands worth $188,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. 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. Quarry LP grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 229.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew 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 valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $266,865,000 after acquiring an additional 12,479 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 2.5 %

AYI stock traded up $5.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $239.68. 548,533 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 293,532. The company has a 50-day moving average of $281.24 and a 200-day moving average of $302.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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, 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 research note on Friday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $317.60.

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.