Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Buys 18,900 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 72.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,900 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 18,900 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.15% of Acuity Brands worth $13,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $906,930,000 after purchasing an additional 16,407 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position 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 buying an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $188,211,000 after buying an additional 17,299 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:AYI traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $242.46. 416,072 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 300,111. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm's fifty day moving average is $262.95 and its 200-day moving average is $297.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released 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. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price 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. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.