Smith Group Asset Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 67,446 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $19,703,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.22% of Acuity Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.5 %

AYI stock opened at $327.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $316.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.99. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.64 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $341.40.

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.