MML Investors Services LLC Has $2.87 Million Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,807 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,197 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $906,930,000 after acquiring an additional 16,407 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after buying an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $188,211,000 after acquiring an additional 17,299 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 603,446 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $176,285,000 after acquiring an additional 61,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 436,060 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $127,386,000 after acquiring an additional 9,513 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 3.9 %

AYI stock traded up $9.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $251.40. 82,316 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,049. The company has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $257.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $296.21. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.38 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.