LPL Financial LLC Has $3.52 Million Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 78.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,061 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 5,316 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $31,026,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $19,703,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 741.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 71,744 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $20,959,000 after purchasing an additional 63,221 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in Acuity Brands by 345.0% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 72,761 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $21,404,000 after purchasing an additional 56,409 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,394,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI stock traded down $2.57 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $236.30. 455,142 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 294,747. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $279.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $302.04. The company has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30.

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Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target 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. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.