Acadian Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Acadian Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 18.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 440,237 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 102,478 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned 1.44% of Acuity worth $131,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Matrix Trust Co increased its stake in Acuity by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 2.4% in the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of Acuity by 0.3% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,053,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Acuity by 1.8% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Acuity by 15.0% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Acuity from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.17.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,489 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.11, for a total value of $1,638,978.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,211,106.16. This trade represents a 42.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Acuity stock opened at $360.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.62. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $375.67. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $350.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.65.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.43%.

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.