SVB Wealth LLC Invests $707,000 in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,421 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $707,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the 4th 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 raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 40.9% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $284.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $316.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $301.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 1.95 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. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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 upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.