Caprock Group LLC Acquires 218 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,129 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of AYI stock opened at $323.71 on Thursday. 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 capitalization of $10.02 billion, a PE ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.40. 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 $316.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.95.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.72 EPS. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Oppenheimer raised their target price 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. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus 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.