Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Acquires 199 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,226 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 199 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,026,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,703,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 741.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 71,744 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $20,959,000 after purchasing an additional 63,221 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 345.0% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 72,761 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $21,404,000 after purchasing an additional 56,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,394,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE AYI opened at $264.17 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $307.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $303.57. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $345.30. 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 $8.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.45, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.72 EPS. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. This is an increase from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of 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 research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.