Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stock Position Raised by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 36.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,659 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Yarbrough Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at about $357,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 69.4% in the 1st quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 520 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 82.7% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,451 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of AYI stock traded down $5.38 during trading on Thursday, hitting $269.01. 268,473 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 303,177. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $252.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $286.27. 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 $8.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 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. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.