Nuveen Asset Management LLC Purchases 20,190 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 32.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 83,369 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 20,190 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 0.27% of Acuity Brands worth $24,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $232,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $19,703,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,500 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,899,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 22,620 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $6,608,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 134,591 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $39,318,000 after acquiring an additional 24,603 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a 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. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE AYI traded up $4.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $264.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 78,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 302,735. The company has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $251.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.77. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.