Acuity (NYSE:AYI) CFO Karen Holcom Sells 4,974 Shares

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) CFO Karen Holcom sold 4,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total transaction of $1,538,110.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,523 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Acuity Stock Down 1.4%

AYI traded down $4.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $309.21. 415,986 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 503,260. The stock has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $350.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $340.97. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $380.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.07.

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

Acuity Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from Acuity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is 5.23%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Acuity by 50,220.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $676,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,263,925 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 6,496.7% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 692,189 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $249,216,000 after purchasing an additional 681,696 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity during the second quarter worth about $119,587,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $115,595,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity by 98.4% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 571,017 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $196,653,000 after purchasing an additional 283,203 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price target on shares of Acuity in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.17.

About Acuity

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.