Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $26.08 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 88,920 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 16,287 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $26,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,642 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $266,865,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $279,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 213.4% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,040 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 3,432 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of AYI stock opened at $224.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. 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 simple moving average is $287.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $303.08. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.38 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $317.60.

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.