Blue Trust Inc. Has $549,000 Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 17.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,994 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 292 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $549,000 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. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $334.63 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 firm has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.64 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $316.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.84.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.72 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.