Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Increases Stock Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 24.4%, owning 13,750 shares valued at $4.1 million after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the second quarter.
• Recent analyst ratings for Acuity include upgrades to a "strong-buy" from Wall Street Zen and significant target price increases from firms like Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley.
• Acuity reported a 21.7% year-over-year revenue increase with earnings of $5.12 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, in its most recent quarterly results.

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,750 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt's holdings in Acuity were worth $4,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 1,789.5% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 359 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $352.60.

Acuity Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE AYI traded up $4.23 on Tuesday, reaching $343.30. The stock had a trading volume of 137,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 329,148. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $319.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.65. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $349.00.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. 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.