Acuity, Inc. $AYI Stock Position Lessened by Boston Trust Walden Corp

Boston Trust Walden Corp cut its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 258,611 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 12,031 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned approximately 0.87% of Acuity worth $80,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in Acuity in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Acuity by 110.2% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 103 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair downgraded shares of Acuity from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Acuity from $360.00 to $348.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Acuity from $440.00 to $415.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Acuity from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $374.20.

Acuity Stock Up 2.1%

AYI opened at $338.22 on Thursday. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $257.04 and a 12 month high of $380.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business's 50-day moving average price is $314.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $310.07. The company has a market cap of $10.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.24.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.57 by $0.20. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.30% and a net margin of 11.45%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.20 EPS. Acuity's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 20.04 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 16th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 16th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity's payout ratio is presently 4.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Neil Ashe sold 8,187 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.44, for a total transaction of $2,656,190.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 78,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,330,653. This represents a 9.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Barry Goldman sold 3,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.48, for a total transaction of $1,221,624.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,580 shares in the company, valued at $2,115,338.40. This represents a 36.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,047 shares of company stock valued at $11,537,354. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Acuity

Acuity NYSE: AYI, formerly known as Acuity Brands, is a technology company focused on improving how people experience and manage indoor and outdoor spaces. Its businesses develop lighting, lighting controls, building-management systems and related solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential applications.

The company's offerings include LED lighting fixtures, connected lighting systems, sensors, controls, building automation technologies and location-aware software.

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