KBC Group NV Buys 10,928 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 109.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 20,901 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,928 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned 0.07% of Acuity Brands worth $6,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $334.63 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average price of $316.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $288.84. The company has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 24.64, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is an increase from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $341.40.

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.