PharVision Advisers LLC Acquires New Shares in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• PharVision Advisers LLC has acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI), buying 1,168 shares valued at approximately $308,000.
• Acuity Brands reported a strong quarterly performance with $5.12 EPS, exceeding analyst expectations of $4.44, and a revenue increase of 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.2%.

PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,168 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $308,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Acuity in the first quarter valued at $250,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 12.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Acuity by 3.0% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,592 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Acuity by 16.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,827 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $26,290,000 after purchasing an additional 14,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Acuity by 38.2% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 186,021 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $48,989,000 after purchasing an additional 51,430 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of AYI stock traded up $2.43 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $330.84. The company had a trading volume of 275,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 332,740. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The company has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.65. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $312.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.72.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $352.60.

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.