CIBC Asset Management Inc Boosts Stock Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 951 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.0 %

AYI opened at $306.17 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $217.64 and a one year high of $345.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $316.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $299.03.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AYI shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.40.

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.