Level Four Advisory Services LLC Has $1.60 Million Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 40.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,465 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,577 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 67 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE AYI opened at $262.44 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.64 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $301.88 and a 200-day moving average of $304.04. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 5.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their target price 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 raised Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.60.

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.