Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 6.7%, now holding 17,379 shares valued at approximately $4.58 million.
• Acuity reported $5.12 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations of $4.44, with revenues rising 21.7% year-over-year.
• Several analysts increased their target prices for Acuity, with Morgan Stanley raising it to $365.00 and assigning an "overweight" rating.

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,379 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,248 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Acuity worth $4,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AYI. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity by 525.0% during the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Acuity during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Acuity by 45.3% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in Acuity during the fourth quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Acuity during the fourth quarter worth $79,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In related news, 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 $5,628,243.84. This trade 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 company insiders.

Acuity Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of AYI traded up $12.5720 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $326.8620. 95,745 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 340,014. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $300.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.30. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.75, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised 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, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

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.