Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 10.9% during the second quarter, owning a total of 9,922 shares valued at approximately $2.96 million.
• Acuity reported earnings of $5.12 per share, surpassing analyst expectations of $4.44, with a revenue increase of 21.7% year-over-year.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Acuity, with Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo increasing theirs to $365.00 and $380.00, respectively, reflecting a generally favorable outlook on the stock.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 10.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,922 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Acuity were worth $2,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Acuity during the first quarter worth $250,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 1st quarter worth about $379,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $7,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 542,715 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $142,907,000 after purchasing an additional 60,784 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Acuity by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Trading Down 1.8%

AYI opened at $334.83 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock's fifty day moving average is $322.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.85. The company has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.39, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.65. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $349.00.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $357.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the company'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 directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is owned by 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.

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