Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Bought by UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC

Key Points

• UBS Asset Management has increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 103.0%, now owning 312,904 shares valued at approximately $82.4 million.
• Acuity reported earnings of $5.12 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $4.44, and showed a 21.7% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.2% as of the recent payment date.

UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 103.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312,904 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 158,741 shares during the quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned 1.01% of Acuity worth $82,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Acuity by 29,415.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $59,852,000 after acquiring an additional 226,501 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Acuity by 34.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $157,910,000 after acquiring an additional 157,790 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,325,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,341,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,740,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AYI. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two 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 target price of $352.60.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $5.46 during trading on Thursday, reaching $345.16. The stock had a trading volume of 208,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 211,523. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $317.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $282.72. The stock has a market cap of $10.58 billion, a PE ratio of 27.20, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.65. Acuity, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $348.61.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity 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.