Pacer Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 407,164 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 107,171 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 1.32% of Acuity Brands worth $98,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake 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 valued at $13,913,000 after acquiring an additional 14,329 shares during the period. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $737,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted 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 worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.0% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $6,965,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,372 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $9,703,000 after buying an additional 9,729 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

AYI opened at $272.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock's fifty day moving average is $247.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $252.59. The company has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.84 and a 52 week high of $273.36.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Acuity Brands from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.