Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Grows Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 176.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,547 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,627 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 951 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AYI. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" 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 note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $242.46 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The business's fifty day moving average is $262.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $297.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.16%.

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.

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