Driehaus Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 37,304 Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 37,304 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $10,898,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Acuity Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $83,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 24.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 95,551 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $26,314,000 after buying an additional 18,919 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $581,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 479.2% during the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 307 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $256.60 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.12.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Company 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.