Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Raises Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 1,256.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 161,183 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 149,297 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.52% of Acuity Brands worth $47,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $906,930,000 after acquiring an additional 16,407 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $327,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,705 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $188,211,000 after buying an additional 17,299 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted 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 buying an additional 61,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded up $2.43 on Wednesday, reaching $252.46. 42,812 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 382,314. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $253.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $295.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $7.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 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 currently 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered 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. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. 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 research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands 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.