KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Purchases New Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 23,700 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $6,923,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned 0.08% of Acuity Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $251,000. Commerce Bank bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $231,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 1,584 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 185,875 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $51,188,000 after buying an additional 12,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $5.39 on Friday, reaching $262.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 447,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 277,480. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $301.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $303.67. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is presently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $330.60.

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.