XTX Topco Ltd Boosts Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 282.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,657 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,440 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 296.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 47,559 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,493,000 after buying an additional 35,556 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 7.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,989 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,167 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $537,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 303.8% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 21,000 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,070,000 after purchasing an additional 15,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE AYI opened at $272.23 on Friday. The stock 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. The business’s 50 day moving average is $247.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $252.62. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.84 and a 12-month high of $273.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. Acuity Brands’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 18th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.