Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 47,722 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. sold 47,722 shares of Acuity, Inc., reducing its ownership by 12.4% to approximately 336,782 shares valued at $88.7 million.
• Institutional investors hold a significant majority, owning 98.21% of Acuity's stock, with several firms recently increasing their positions.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy"** on Acuity's stock, with an average target price of $340.60 following recent price adjustments by multiple research firms.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 12.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 336,782 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 47,722 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.09% of Acuity worth $88,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Acuity by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $821,287,000 after acquiring an additional 14,071 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Acuity by 1.7% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $300,181,000 after acquiring an additional 18,878 shares during the period. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its position in Acuity by 158.9% in the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after acquiring an additional 668,048 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 3.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $219,237,000 after purchasing an additional 24,225 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 455,427 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $133,044,000 after purchasing an additional 82,947 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, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Acuity Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE AYI traded down $3.57 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $325.86. 231,479 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 244,675. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $307.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during 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 business earned $4.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

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.