Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Bought by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Key Points

• Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services boosted its stake in Acuity by 120.2% in Q4 to 13,820 shares worth $5.18M, and multiple large managers (including Orion Portfolio Solutions, Balyasny, Norges Bank and Millennium) also added sizable positions, leaving institutional investors with 98.21% ownership.
• Acuity beat Q results with $4.69 EPS versus $4.45 expected and revenue up 20.2% year-over-year; the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 (annualized $0.80, yield 0.3%) and carries a consensus analyst rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $380.17.

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 120.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,820 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 7,543 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Acuity were worth $5,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AYI. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity by 50,220.2% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $676,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,263,925 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Acuity during the second quarter valued at about $119,587,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Acuity during the second quarter worth about $115,595,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 98.4% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 571,017 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $196,653,000 after acquiring an additional 283,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Palestra Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity in the 3rd quarter worth about $91,539,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Acuity from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Acuity from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 12th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Acuity from $385.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total value of $1,538,110.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,523 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,655,557.29. The trade was a 18.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $270.25 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business's 50 day moving average is $297.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $335.18. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $380.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $4.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.04% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.97 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 17th. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.15%.

Acuity Company 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.

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