47,203 Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Acquired by Ashford Capital Management Inc.

Ashford Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 47,203 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $13,789,000. Acuity Brands makes up about 1.6% of Ashford Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Ashford Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.15% of Acuity Brands as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $906,930,000 after buying an additional 16,407 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $188,211,000 after purchasing an additional 17,299 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI traded down $2.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $260.22. The stock had a trading volume of 139,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,626. The stock has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $251.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $291.49. 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.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.38 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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 was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 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.