Prudential Financial Inc. Increases Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 135.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 180,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 103,818 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.58% of Acuity Brands worth $52,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $31,026,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $19,703,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 63,221 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 345.0% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 72,761 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $21,404,000 after purchasing an additional 56,409 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $13,394,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $330.60.

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Acuity Brands Trading Down 2.0 %

AYI traded down $5.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $262.44. 447,445 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 277,480. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.64 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $301.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $304.43. The firm has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. 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 (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. As a group, analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

Acuity Brands Company 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.