Acuity, Inc. $AYI Position Cut by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP sold 21,154 shares of Acuity, Inc., reducing its holdings by 3.5% to approximately 584,350 shares worth $153.88 million.
• Acuity, Inc. reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating estimates and reflecting a year-over-year revenue increase of 21.7% to $1.18 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, with a yield of 0.2%, and currently has a dividend payout ratio of 5.36%.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 584,350 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 21,154 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.89% of Acuity worth $153,878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $821,287,000 after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $327,471,000 after acquiring an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $317,977,000 after acquiring an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 455,427 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $133,044,000 after acquiring an additional 82,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 384,504 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $112,325,000 after acquiring an additional 12,492 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Robert W. Baird increased 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of AYI stock traded up $12.6310 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $326.9210. 144,261 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 275,052. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. 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 company has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.64. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $301.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.07.

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, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

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.