Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Purchased by De Lisle Partners LLP

Key Points

• De Lisle Partners LLP increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 17.2% during the 1st quarter, bringing their total ownership to approximately $7.17 million.
• Acuity reported earnings of $5.12 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $4.44, with quarterly revenue increasing by 21.7% to $1.18 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, which will be paid on August 1st, representing an annualized yield of 0.22%.

De Lisle Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 17.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,211 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the quarter. Acuity comprises 1.2% of De Lisle Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. De Lisle Partners LLP owned 0.09% of Acuity worth $7,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new stake in Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at about $640,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Acuity by 78.8% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,061 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $3,523,000 after purchasing an additional 5,316 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Acuity by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 25,390 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $7,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,004 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Acuity in the fourth quarter worth about $110,236,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity in the fourth quarter worth about $174,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Stock Performance

AYI stock traded down $6.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $304.87. 289,950 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 350,764. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $285.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 24.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.62. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity's payout ratio is 5.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% 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, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.