2,170 Shares in Acuity, Inc. $AYI Purchased by Caprock Group LLC

Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,170 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Krilogy Financial LLC bought a new position in Acuity during the 3rd quarter worth $597,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new position in shares of Acuity during the third quarter worth about $445,000. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity during the third quarter worth about $233,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 928.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 19,731 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,795,000 after acquiring an additional 17,812 shares during the period. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Acuity by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,248 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Stock Performance

AYI opened at $305.91 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.50. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $339.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $343.10. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $380.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $4.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 9.04%.Acuity’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is an increase from Acuity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.15%.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total value of $1,538,110.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,655,557.29. This trade represents a 18.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Wall Street Zen cut Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price target on Acuity in a research report on Friday, January 9th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Acuity from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Acuity Company Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.