Federated Hermes Inc. Purchases 7,392 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 56.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,561 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 7,392 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.07% of Acuity worth $5,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Acuity during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Acuity by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in Acuity during the 4th quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity by 520.0% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a 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 stock a "neutral" 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 stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity Trading Down 2.1%

AYI opened at $304.87 on Monday. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 24.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $286.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $281.19. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The business 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%. Acuity's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. 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 the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president 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. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

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.

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