950 Shares in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Purchased by Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC

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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 1,470.0% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 314 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,412,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,394,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Acuity by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,345 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,391,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity at Acuity

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

Acuity Stock Down 1.4%

Acuity stock opened at $298.43 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $275.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $282.08. The company has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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