Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI – Free Report) by 35.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,240 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 38.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,890 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $13,913,000 after buying an additional 14,329 shares during the last quarter. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $737,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 148.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after buying an additional 2,627 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,372 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $9,703,000 after acquiring an additional 9,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $11,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s shares.

The Wall Street analyst weighs in

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 4th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday , June 28. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th . Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.00, based on data from MarketBeat.

Read our latest inventory analysis of Acuity brands

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $243.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.15, and a current ratio of 2.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $242.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $250.96. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $156.49 and a one year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI – Get Your Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.52 million. In the same period last year, the company earned $3.50 per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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 an annualized dividend of $0.60 and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 18. Acuity Brands’ payout ratio is 4.88%.

Acuity Brands Company Profile

(Free report)

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting control, 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 offers commercial, architectural and specialty lighting solutions as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Health Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions and Sensor Switch.

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