Focus Partners Wealth Raises Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 40.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,265 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,529 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position 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 valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI traded down $1.08 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $260.34. 18,819 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 302,483. The company's 50-day moving average is $252.10 and its 200 day moving average is $292.37. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company's 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 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $317.60.

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.