Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Bought by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,403 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Acuity during the first quarter worth about $250,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Acuity by 12.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in Acuity by 3.0% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,592 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity by 16.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,827 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $26,290,000 after purchasing an additional 14,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Acuity by 38.2% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 186,021 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $48,989,000 after purchasing an additional 51,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $313.58 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.61. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

About Acuity

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.