MetLife Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,233 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 1,330 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Acuity Brands worth $5,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,236,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Acuity Brands by 241.8% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $63,102,000 after purchasing an additional 152,807 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $31,026,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 135.8% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 180,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $52,663,000 after purchasing an additional 103,818 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of AYI traded down $1.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $240.49. The company had a trading volume of 48,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 299,796. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $261.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $297.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Acuity Brands's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price 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. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" 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.