Durable Capital Partners LP Increases Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Durable Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 158.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 668,048 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands makes up about 2.6% of Durable Capital Partners LP's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Durable Capital Partners LP owned approximately 3.52% of Acuity Brands worth $317,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird cut 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 note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. 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 on the stock 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 6.1%

Shares of AYI stock traded up $15.70 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $272.26. 116,195 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 303,216. The business's fifty day moving average is $252.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.07. 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 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. 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.