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

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought 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 Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 12,370 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $3,614,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 50.5% in 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. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake 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 worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. 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 report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE AYI opened at $252.80 on Tuesday. 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 stock's 50 day simple moving average is $254.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $295.32. The company has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a PE ratio of 18.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30.

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

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

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