Radnor Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,850 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,100 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $182,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,307 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,660 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 87.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 148 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,684 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.58% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Acuity Brands stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $160.33. 31,630 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 318,621. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $162.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $165.51. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.30 and a fifty-two week high of $202.90. The company has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 29th. The electronics maker reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.15. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.34% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 12.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 18th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 17th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AYI. SpectralCast reissued a “reiterates” rating on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.14.

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting and building management solutions in North America and internationally. The company operates through 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 Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Gotham, Mark Architectural Lighting, Winona Lighting, Juno, Indy, Aculux, Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Sunoptics, eldoLED, nLight, Sensor Switch, IOTA, A-Light, Cyclone, Eureka, Lumniaire LED, Luminis, Dark to Light, RELOC Wiring Solutions, and OPTOTRONIC brands.