Acuity, Inc. $AYI Holdings Lifted by Entropy Technologies LP

Entropy Technologies LP raised its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 217.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,061 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,205 shares during the quarter. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in Acuity were worth $2,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Acuity by 50,220.2% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $676,764,000 after buying an additional 2,263,925 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Acuity by 6,496.7% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 692,189 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $249,216,000 after acquiring an additional 681,696 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Acuity during the 4th quarter worth $138,747,000. Palestra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity in the third quarter worth $91,539,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at $78,249,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Acuity from $295.00 to $358.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other Acuity news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $288.83 per share, with a total value of $57,766.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,532. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Acuity stock opened at $330.36 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $318.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $304.05. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.04 and a fifty-two week high of $380.17. The firm has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.26% and a net margin of 10.25%.The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.12 earnings per share. Acuity’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.31%.

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.