Driehaus Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 45.7%, purchasing 17,061 additional shares, bringing its total holdings to 54,365 shares valued at approximately $14.32 million.
• Acuity reported a strong quarterly financial performance, with $5.12 earnings per share, exceeding analyst expectations and demonstrating a 21.7% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.17, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.2% and a dividend payout ratio of 5.36%.

Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 45.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,365 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 17,061 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.18% of Acuity worth $14,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in Acuity by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $4,053,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Acuity by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $1.49 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $331.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 70,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 336,040. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. 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 capitalization of $10.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.65. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $309.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.31.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. 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 payout ratio is presently 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $352.60.

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.