Arcus Capital Partners LLC Purchases 1,169 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Arcus Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 44.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,813 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares during the period. Arcus Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Acuity were worth $1,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake 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 buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Acuity by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in Acuity in the 4th quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Acuity by 520.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE AYI traded down $4.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $298.43. The company had a trading volume of 200,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,849. 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 one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $9.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.62. The company's fifty day moving average is $275.90 and its 200-day moving average is $282.23.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. 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 presently 5.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

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.