Prudential PLC Buys New Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,516 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its position in Acuity Brands by 74.6% in the 4th quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 5,152 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,201 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 217.9% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 41,353 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $12,080,000 after purchasing an additional 28,343 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $97,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $188,211,000 after buying an additional 17,299 shares during the period. Finally, Diametric Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI traded up $4.65 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $244.41. 24,682 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 292,723. The company has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $281.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $302.26. 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 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.