CreativeOne Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• CreativeOne Wealth LLC has entered a new position in Acuity, Inc. by acquiring 773 shares, valued at around $204,000, during the first quarter.
• Acuity reported a significant earnings per share of $5.12 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, with a 21.7% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, reflecting an annualized rate of $0.68 and a dividend yield of 0.2%.

CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 773 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in Acuity by 64.3% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,855 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $3,755,000 after buying an additional 5,030 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Acuity by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 384,504 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $112,325,000 after buying an additional 12,492 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,889 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at $27,507,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,289 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $352.60.

Acuity Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Acuity stock traded down $0.75 during 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 cap of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $311.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $280.79.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.The firm's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.15 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity's payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value 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. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.