AQR Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 22.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 455,427 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 82,947 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.47% of Acuity Brands worth $133,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. 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 upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded up $10.76 on Friday, reaching $252.62. 337,727 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 303,007. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $255.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $295.85. The company has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

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.