29,443 Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Acquired by Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 29,443 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $8,601,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ owned approximately 0.10% of Acuity Brands as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.9%

Acuity Brands stock traded down $2.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $259.26. The company had a trading volume of 408,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 302,422. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.09, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The firm's fifty day moving average is $251.05 and its 200-day moving average is $289.38. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. 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 firm earned $3.38 EPS. Acuity Brands's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.16%.

About Acuity Brands

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.