BankPlus Trust Department Invests $69,000 in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 237 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $69,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AYI. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,050,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $242,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,552 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.3% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hedeker Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 19,012 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,236,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $306.17 on Tuesday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $316.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.03. The stock has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.