Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Takes $2.94 Million Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 10,065 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,940,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $3,849,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $232,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $19,703,000. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in Acuity Brands by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,500 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded up $10.76 during trading on Friday, reaching $252.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 337,727 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,406. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $255.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $295.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.16%.

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.