Ieq Capital LLC Invests $4 Million in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 13,686 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,998,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $309.11 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $317.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $296.85. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.64 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

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

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.