Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Takes Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 12,370 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $3,614,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% during 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. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AYI. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:AYI traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $256.60. The company had a trading volume of 189,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,913. The firm has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The business's fifty day moving average is $252.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30.

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

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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