4,055 Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Acquired by Nomura Holdings Inc.

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,055 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,185,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,150 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the period. Burney Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,410 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $232,000. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,015 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.1%

AYI traded up $0.33 on Thursday, hitting $261.75. The company had a trading volume of 150,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 302,970. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $252.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $292.37. 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 capitalization of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. 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 research report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on 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 investment 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 stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $317.60.

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.