Stevens Capital Management LP Makes New $319,000 Investment in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,091 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $319,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,026,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,703,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake 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 worth $20,959,000 after acquiring an additional 63,221 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its stake 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 worth $21,404,000 after acquiring an additional 56,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $13,394,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AYI. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $339.80.

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Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI traded down $2.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $269.18. 74,848 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 326,240. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.64 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $304.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $303.82. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.72 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

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.