Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stake Increased by Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,705 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands accounts for 1.2% of Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $327,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective 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 dropped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $231.77 on Wednesday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $268.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $299.28. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.