Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stake Increased by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 217.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,353 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,343 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.13% of Acuity Brands worth $12,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AYI. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,210,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 951 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $266.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $297.70 and its 200-day moving average is $304.27. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.72 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AYI. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.60.

About Acuity Brands

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.