Prudential Financial Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 135.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 180,272 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 103,818 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $52,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,849,000. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after buying an additional 1,917 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $232,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 213.4% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,040 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 3,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,703,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $275.38 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $305.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $304.05. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $217.64 and a one year high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. This is an increase from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is presently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AYI. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.