Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Holdings Boosted by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,345 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,042 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $7,447,000 after buying an additional 6,679 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 26.8% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,669 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $735,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $251,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Commerce Bank bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $231,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

AYI opened at $267.56 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $307.96 and its 200-day moving average is $302.72. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $217.64 and a one year high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.72 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. 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. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.