Caitlin John LLC Raises Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Caitlin John LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,616 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Caitlin John LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI opened at $323.71 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $316.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.95. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.72 EPS. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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%. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley raised Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average 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.