MQS Management LLC Invests $282,000 in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,166 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $649,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 343 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $68,686,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $433,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.1 %

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

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.52 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 presently 4.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research note 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, Acuity Brands has an average 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.