Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Purchased by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,795 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth 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. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE AYI traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $229.01. 382,529 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 296,965. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $272.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $300.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.16%.

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.