Boston Partners Sells 6,597 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Key Points

• Boston Partners reduced its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 1.8%, owning approximately 350,506 shares valued at $92.25 million after selling 6,597 shares.
• Acuity reported a 21.7% year-over-year revenue increase for the quarter, achieving $1.18 billion, with an EPS of $5.12, surpassing estimates by $0.68.
• Acuity recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17, reflecting a low payout ratio of 5.36% and an annual yield of 0.2%.

Boston Partners reduced its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 350,506 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 6,597 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 1.13% of Acuity worth $92,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 525.0% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at about $71,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Acuity by 520.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Acuity by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $6.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $313.58. The company had a trading volume of 271,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 295,285. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. Acuity, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $279.90.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. Research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $340.60.

Insider Activity at Acuity

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 transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. 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.