Quantbot Technologies LP Invests $3.70 Million in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 12,390 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,696,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Matrix Trust Co lifted its stake in Acuity by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased 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 worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 5.4% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 955 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its position 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, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 3.9% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,357 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total transaction of $1,724,862.87. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,880,665.45. This trade represents a 30.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $369.64 on Thursday. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $375.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $321.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.50, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.49.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.84 by $0.36. Acuity had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Acuity has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.000-20.500 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

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.