Capital Fund Management S.A. Purchases Shares of 20,865 Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Capital Fund Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 20,865 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $6,095,000. Capital Fund Management S.A. owned about 0.07% of Acuity Brands as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $239.68 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $7.41 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $281.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $302.04.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $317.60.

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.