Alberta Investment Management Corp Boosts Holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 54.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,100 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp's holdings in Acuity were worth $1,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 3.2% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 790 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 1.8% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 15.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of Acuity stock opened at $304.87 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.02, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $286.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $281.19.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. Analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. 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 presently 5.36%.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president 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. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AYI. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised 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 assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.60.

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.

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