1,340 Shares in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Purchased by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,340 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $353,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Acuity by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,134 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Acuity by 24.6% during the 1st quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 4,402 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Acuity by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,323 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,138,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its position in Acuity by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 871 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Acuity by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 20,420 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $5,378,000 after acquiring an additional 3,480 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AYI. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three research 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI traded up $1.45 on Friday, hitting $292.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 219,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 306,322. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $279.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.62. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is 5.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 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 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.