Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 146 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Ballentine Partners LLC reduced its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 13.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 968 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 146 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Acuity were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Matrix Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity by 3.2% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 0.3% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,053,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 1.8% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Acuity from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.60.

Acuity Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of AYI stock opened at $339.00 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $323.32 and a 200 day moving average of $285.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Acuity, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $349.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a PE ratio of 26.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.65.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.