Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 950 Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 950 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $317,977,000 after purchasing an additional 668,048 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $110,236,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 29,415.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $59,852,000 after acquiring an additional 226,501 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 241.8% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $63,102,000 after acquiring an additional 152,807 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Acuity by 1,256.1% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 161,183 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,086,000 after acquiring an additional 149,297 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $2.03 on Wednesday, hitting $286.88. 236,042 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 307,735. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $277.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company earned $4.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is 5.36%.

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.