State of Michigan Retirement System Has $2.01 Million Stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,494 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at $208,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,760 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,010,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $248,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $7,061,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 88.4% during the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 1,396 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.2 %

AYI opened at $243.31 on Friday. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.34 and a fifty-two week high of $272.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.78, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day moving average is $253.88 and its 200 day moving average is $245.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

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.