XTX Topco Ltd Buys 3,440 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

XTX Topco Ltd grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 282.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,657 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,440 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 296.2% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 47,559 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $11,493,000 after purchasing an additional 35,556 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 7.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,989 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 10.2% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,167 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the second quarter worth about $537,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 303.8% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 21,000 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $5,070,000 after acquiring an additional 15,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE AYI traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $272.23. The stock had a trading volume of 462,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,089. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $156.84 and a one year high of $273.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $252.59.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Acuity Brands from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.