Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Buys New Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

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

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $233.15 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $294.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $304.02. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $217.64 and a one year high of $345.30. The company has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on AYI. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $324.60.

About Acuity Brands

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.