Versor Investments LP Makes New Investment in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,100 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,473,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 44.4% during the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 192 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 900.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $4.86 during trading on Monday, hitting $254.70. The company had a trading volume of 252,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,648. The company has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.41. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $242.96 and its 200 day moving average is $251.68. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.49 and a 52 week high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its 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 return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 18th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 4.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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 lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.