Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Buys 215,547 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 187.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 215,547 shares during the quarter. Acuity Brands makes up about 0.8% of Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $79,755,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake 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. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $248.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.77. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.79 and a 52-week high of $272.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $243.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $251.96. The stock has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The company had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on AYI shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $279.00.

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.