Mackenzie Financial Corp Makes New Investment in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,181 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $574,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Acuity by 525.0% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Acuity in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Acuity by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at $71,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 520.0% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $307.61 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $288.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.26. Acuity, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $340.60.

Acuity 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.