Pacer Advisors Inc. Boosts Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 35.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 107,171 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 1.32% of Acuity Brands worth $98,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth about $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $272.23 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $247.25 and a 200 day moving average of $252.59. The company has a market capitalization 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.84 and a 1-year high of $273.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

About Acuity Brands

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.