Candriam S.C.A. Has $3.55 Million Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 26.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 4,285 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $3,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,933,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $13,394,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,929 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,608,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $10,412,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 38,625 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,284,000 after acquiring an additional 11,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $282.06 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $314.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $302.11. The company has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced 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 business had revenue of $951.60 million during 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%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $341.40.

About Acuity Brands

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.