Invesco Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 603,446 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 61,765 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.95% of Acuity Brands worth $176,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

AYI stock traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $229.01. 382,529 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 296,583. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $273.97 and a 200-day moving average of $300.76. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. Acuity Brands's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $317.60.

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.