Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,920 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 16,287 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.29% of Acuity Brands worth $26,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. 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. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE AYI traded up $4.71 during trading on Monday, hitting $244.47. 34,534 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 383,474. The company has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $281.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $302.26.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is 5.16%.

About Acuity Brands

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.