Insider Selling: Acuity (NYSE:AYI) SVP Sells $1,724,862.87 in Stock

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) SVP Barry Goldman sold 4,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total value of $1,724,862.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,880,665.45. This represents a 30.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $360.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $345.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.28. The stock has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $375.67.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s payout ratio is currently 5.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $821,287,000 after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity by 50,220.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $676,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,263,925 shares during the period. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its position in shares of Acuity by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,249,899 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $372,895,000 after purchasing an additional 151,414 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $300,181,000 after purchasing an additional 18,878 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 840,508 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $250,759,000 after purchasing an additional 50,491 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.