Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 4,569 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 262,582 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 4,569 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.85% of Acuity worth $69,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 45.3% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 520.0% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.60.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of Acuity stock traded down $6.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $288.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 128,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,785. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. The business's fifty day moving average price is $276.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.91. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.62. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Acuity's payout ratio is presently 5.36%.

Acuity Company 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.