Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Invests $807,000 in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,764 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $807,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,849,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 213.4% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,040 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after buying an additional 3,432 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,703,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,642 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $324.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI opened at $233.15 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $294.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $304.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.16%.

Acuity Brands Profile

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.