Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Has $252,000 Holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 24.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 958 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 790 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $307.00 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $291.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.07. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $9.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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 year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $340.60.

Acuity Company 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.