D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Has $16.65 Million Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lowered its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 31.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 57,009 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 25,969 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.18% of Acuity Brands worth $16,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised 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 report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded up $1.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $273.23. The stock had a trading volume of 145,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,898. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $251.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $292.99. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week 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 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. Acuity Brands's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share 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 $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Acuity Brands Company 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.