Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Makes New Investment in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 135 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AYI opened at $329.51 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $10.20 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $316.84 and a 200 day moving average of $293.95.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.72 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.01%.

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.