Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Purchased by Crestline Management LP

Crestline Management LP raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 120.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,642 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 2,535 shares during the quarter. Crestline Management LP's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $110,236,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 241.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $63,102,000 after buying an additional 152,807 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 1,256.1% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 161,183 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,086,000 after purchasing an additional 149,297 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 135.8% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 180,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $52,663,000 after acquiring an additional 103,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 103,162 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research note 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, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded up $14.74 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $271.30. The company had a trading volume of 350,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 304,098. 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 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $252.02 and a 200-day moving average of $294.07. The company has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 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 business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.16%.

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.