Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stake Raised by Arcus Capital Partners LLC

Arcus Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 44.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and 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.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 1,470.0% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 314 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 38,625 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $11,284,000 after acquiring an additional 11,583 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at about $10,412,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at about $13,394,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,345 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Acuity Stock Performance

NYSE AYI traded down $4.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $298.43. The company's stock 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $281.94. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The stock has a market cap of $9.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.62.

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. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.15 earnings per share. Acuity's revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value 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. This trade represents 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 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.