Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Sold by NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC

Key Points

• NorthCrest Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 24.8% during Q2, owning 5,618 shares worth approximately $1.7 million after selling 1,850 shares.
• Acuity recently reported Q2 earnings of $5.12 per share, exceeding estimates, and saw a revenue increase of 21.7% year-over-year, reaching $1.18 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17, which equates to an annualized yield of 0.2% and a payout ratio of 5.36%.

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lowered its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 24.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,618 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,850 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings in Acuity were worth $1,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity during the first quarter valued at $250,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Acuity in the first quarter worth approximately $379,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity by 20.7% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $7,514,000 after acquiring an additional 4,886 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 542,715 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $142,907,000 after acquiring an additional 60,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 12.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This trade 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 Stock Up 1.6%

AYI opened at $345.16 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.65. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $348.61. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $317.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $282.72.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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 Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $352.60.

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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