BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Has $626,000 Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 326.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,143 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,640 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $626,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $110,236,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Acuity Brands by 241.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $63,102,000 after acquiring an additional 152,807 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $31,026,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 135.8% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 180,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $52,663,000 after purchasing an additional 103,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE AYI traded down $1.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $240.49. 48,203 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 299,796. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The company has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $261.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $297.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.60.

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.