Truist Financial Corp Has $2.28 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 60.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,807 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 2,934 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,281,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth $31,026,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $19,703,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 741.8% in the 4th 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,810 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $172,654,000 after acquiring an additional 34,032 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 437,745 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $120,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,581 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE:AYI traded down $2.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $296.94. 518,025 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 308,334. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $316.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $300.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $217.64 and a one year high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.01%.

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.