Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Takes Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,061 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $894,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Commerce Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $231,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 76.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 35,499 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $9,776,000 after acquiring an additional 15,433 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 269,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $74,092,000 after purchasing an additional 22,781 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 92.6% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 3,157 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $268.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.64 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $303.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $303.57.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $339.80.

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.