Northern Trust Corp Purchases 34,562 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 345,618 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 34,562 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.12% of Acuity Brands worth $100,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of AYI opened at $252.62 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $255.98 and a 200 day moving average of $295.78. The company has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. 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 earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The firm 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%. The business's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut 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. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.