Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Bought by Allianz Asset Management GmbH

Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 7.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 215,809 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,611 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned about 0.70% of Acuity worth $74,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $676,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,263,925 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter valued at $119,587,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter valued at $115,595,000. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Acuity by 64.0% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 574,975 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $171,580,000 after buying an additional 224,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Durable Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,249,899 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $372,895,000 after buying an additional 151,414 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $315.10 on Wednesday. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $380.17. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $348.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.17. The company has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.50. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $4.69 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.97 EPS. Acuity’s revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This is a positive change from Acuity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AYI shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 10th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price objective on Acuity in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total transaction of $1,538,110.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,523 shares in the company, valued at $6,655,557.29. This represents a 18.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity 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.