Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. Acquires New Position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Key Points

• Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. has acquired a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by purchasing 20,256 shares valued at approximately $5.3 million, representing 0.07% ownership in the company.
• Acuity, Inc. recently saw a boost in analyst ratings, with Wall Street Zen upgrading the stock from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating, while several firms adjusted their target prices upward, with a consensus target of $340.60.
• For the last quarter, Acuity reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $5.12, surpassing analyst expectations, and its revenue increased 21.7% year-over-year, amounting to $1.18 billion.

Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,256 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $5,334,000. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. owned about 0.07% of Acuity as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 525.0% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Acuity in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Acuity by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in Acuity in the fourth quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 520.0% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

NYSE AYI traded up $2.17 on Friday, hitting $307.00. 157,384 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 292,552. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $291.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $280.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is presently 5.36%.

Acuity Company 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.