Prudential Financial Inc. Has $52.66 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 135.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 180,272 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 103,818 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.58% of Acuity Brands worth $52,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI stock opened at $275.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.28, 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $305.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $304.05. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.64 and a 1-year high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 5.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on AYI shares. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $341.40.

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.