Man Group plc Raises Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Man Group plc grew its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,103 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,111 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned about 0.21% of Acuity Brands worth $19,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $906,930,000 after buying an additional 16,407 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $327,471,000 after acquiring an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after acquiring an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after acquiring an additional 668,048 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $188,211,000 after purchasing an additional 17,299 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $1.26 on Thursday, hitting $260.16. 30,696 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 302,500. The firm's 50 day moving average is $252.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.37. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion, a PE ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. 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 (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.38 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is 5.16%.

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.