Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 12.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 82,105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 11,925 shares during the quarter. Acuity comprises approximately 2.7% of Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $24,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 32.3% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,956 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,202,000 after buying an additional 3,895 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Acuity by 4.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,403 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Acuity by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $821,287,000 after acquiring an additional 14,071 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity by 2.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 213,836 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $56,314,000 after purchasing an additional 5,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 67,733 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $17,837,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Acuity stock opened at $372.77 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $360.53 and a 200-day moving average of $325.42. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $379.17.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th were given 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 of this dividend was Friday, October 17th. Acuity’s payout ratio is presently 5.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AYI. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,880,665.45. This trade represents a 30.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity 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.