Quaero Capital S.A. Purchases Shares of 1,889 Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Quaero Capital S.A. bought a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,889 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Acuity by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 60,500 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $17,674,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,187 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Acuity by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Acuity by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 38,625 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $11,284,000 after buying an additional 11,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 1,470.0% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 314 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $303.86. The company had a trading volume of 702,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,283. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $9.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.04, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.60.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 19.73%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Acuity Company 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.