Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Sells 895 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. reduced its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 17.4%, owning 4,257 shares valued at approximately $1.12 million after selling 895 shares.
• Acuity reported $5.12 earnings per share for the most recent quarter, exceeding estimates and reflecting a 21.7% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• Analysts have upgraded Acuity's stock ratings, with target prices raised by several firms, leading to a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lowered its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 17.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,257 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 895 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.'s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity by 525.0% during the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Acuity during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Acuity by 45.3% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Acuity during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity by 31.7% during the first quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $352.60.

Acuity Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of AYI traded up $7.14 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $339.51. The stock had a trading volume of 149,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 216,912. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $311.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $280.73. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. The trade was 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.

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.