MQS Management LLC Makes New Investment in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,166 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the second quarter worth $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 900.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $61,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $272.23 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.84 and a twelve month high of $273.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $247.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $252.62. The firm has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $968.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 18th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.88%.

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.