Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Position Boosted by Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 74.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,152 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,201 shares during the quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $233.15 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $217.64 and a one year high of $345.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $294.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $303.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

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.