Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Acuity, Inc. by 3.9% during the first quarter, owning 24,562 shares valued at $6,468,000 at the quarter's end.
• Several institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Envestnet Asset Management Inc., increased their positions in Acuity during the same period, indicating varied investor interest.
• Wall Street analysts have upgraded their price targets for Acuity, with Wells Fargo raising it to $320.00 and Morgan Stanley to $365.00, reflecting a positive outlook for the company's stock.

Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,562 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,009 shares during the quarter. Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Acuity worth $6,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 158.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity by 29,415.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $59,852,000 after buying an additional 226,501 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in Acuity by 1,256.1% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 161,183 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,086,000 after buying an additional 149,297 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity during the first quarter worth $33,325,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity during the first quarter worth $27,740,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI traded down $3.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $325.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 231,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 337,881. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.64. The business's fifty day moving average is $307.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.58.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction 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 approximately $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% 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.

About Acuity

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.