Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Grows Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 192.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,615 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,697 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Hedeker Wealth LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 19,395 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $5,666,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,500 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 2,473 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, 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 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE AYI opened at $269.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $250.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. 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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.38 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Acuity Brands 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.

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