Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Boosts Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1,256.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 161,183 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 149,297 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $47,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $241.75 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $257.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $296.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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 cut Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $317.60.

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.