Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Raises Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 206,520 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 30,688 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. owned about 0.67% of Acuity Brands worth $60,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $327,471,000 after buying an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $326,452,000 after buying an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after acquiring an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 2.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $3.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $274.79. 68,718 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 303,206. The firm has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $251.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.85.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AYI. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.