Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Key Points

• Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 16.9%, bringing their ownership to 10,632 shares valued at $2.8 million.
• Several hedge funds significantly increased their positions, with Durable Capital Partners LP raising their stake by 158.9% and GAMMA Investing LLC by an astonishing 29,415.7% in the first quarter.
• Acuity recently reported earnings of $5.12 per share, surpassing forecasts, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, translating to an annual yield of 0.2%.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board trimmed its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 16.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,632 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 2,163 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Acuity were worth $2,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Acuity by 78.8% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,061 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $3,523,000 after purchasing an additional 5,316 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Acuity by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter worth about $443,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Acuity by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 85,609 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $25,009,000 after purchasing an additional 3,866 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Acuity by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 88,920 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $26,081,000 after purchasing an additional 16,287 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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 value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Acuity Stock Up 0.7%

AYI stock traded up $2.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $307.00. 157,384 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 292,552. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.19, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. Acuity's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

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.