Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lowered its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 28.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,301 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 925 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Acuity were worth $606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $906,930,000 after acquiring an additional 16,407 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $327,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,705 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after purchasing an additional 668,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $188,211,000 after purchasing an additional 17,299 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of Acuity in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $315.00 target price on shares of Acuity and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $323.60.

Acuity Stock Up 5.9%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $304.39 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The stock has a market cap of $9.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $261.72 and a 200 day moving average of $282.82.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 19.73%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. Acuity's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Acuity Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AYI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.