Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Boosts Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 21.8% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 9,800 shares, bringing its total ownership to 54,700 shares valued at approximately $14.4 million.
• Acuity reported earnings of $5.12 per share for the most recent quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $4.44, with revenues increasing by 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Acuity, with Morgan Stanley increasing its target to $365.00 and maintaining an "overweight" rating, reflecting growing confidence in the company's performance.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 21.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,700 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.18% of Acuity worth $14,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity by 525.0% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Acuity in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Acuity in the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,000. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity by 31.7% in the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday. 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 report on Friday, June 27th. 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 report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $352.60.

Acuity Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $338.65. 148,243 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 214,372. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a PE ratio of 26.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.65. The business's 50 day moving average is $311.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 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.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity's payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.