6,108 Shares in Acuity, Inc. $AYI Acquired by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,108 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,609,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity by 12.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 542,715 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $142,907,000 after buying an additional 60,784 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Acuity by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,514,000 after acquiring an additional 4,886 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 103.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 312,904 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $82,403,000 after purchasing an additional 158,741 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in Acuity during the 1st quarter worth approximately $530,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 17.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 76,543 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $20,158,000 after purchasing an additional 11,144 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Acuity from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.60.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of Acuity stock opened at $341.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.65. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $316.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.91. 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 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. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.Acuity’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, 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. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

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.