Voya Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 51,863 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 3,775 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Acuity Brands worth $15,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,849,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $232,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,703,000. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,495,000 after buying an additional 2,323 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,500 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,899,000 after buying an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of AYI stock traded up $10.76 on Friday, hitting $252.62. The stock had a trading volume of 337,727 shares, compared to its average volume of 302,642. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $257.08 and a 200 day moving average of $296.21. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The stock has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. Acuity Brands's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. 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 is 5.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. 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. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.