Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 14.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 282,671 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 47,660 shares during the period. Acuity Brands makes up 0.8% of Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.91% of Acuity Brands worth $82,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AYI. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $31,026,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,703,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 741.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 71,744 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $20,959,000 after acquiring an additional 63,221 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,394,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,412,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $341.40.

Remove Ads

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $268.19 on Wednesday. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $313.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $302.82. The firm has a market cap of $8.30 billion, a PE ratio of 19.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. Acuity Brands's revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is presently 5.01%.

About Acuity Brands

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.