Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Bought by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 241.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 216,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 152,807 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $63,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AYI. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 13.1% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 92.6% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,808,000 after buying an additional 3,157 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,273,000. Atom Investors LP acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,710,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $263.89 on Wednesday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.64 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $299.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $304.54.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued 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 during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.72 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.60.

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.