Freestone Grove Partners LP Invests $20.27 Million in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 69,370 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $20,265,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP owned approximately 0.22% of Acuity Brands as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AYI. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $232,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,703,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 worth $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. Finally, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 22,620 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $6,608,000 after buying an additional 1,335 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock traded up $1.91 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $251.94. The company had a trading volume of 36,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 382,232. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $253.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $295.01. 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 has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year 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 firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.