Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Sold by Graham Capital Management L.P.

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. cut its holdings in Acuity, Inc. by 52.1%, selling 4,946 shares, leaving it with 4,540 shares worth approximately $1.2 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Acuity's quarterly earnings exceeded analyst expectations, reporting $5.12 EPS against a forecast of $4.44, with a revenue increase of 21.7% year-over-year.
• Wall Street analysts have upgraded Acuity's stock, with several raising their price targets, resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $352.60.

Graham Capital Management L.P. lessened its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 52.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,540 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 4,946 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its position in Acuity by 158.9% in the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after purchasing an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 29,415.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $59,852,000 after acquiring an additional 226,501 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,325,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Acuity in the first quarter worth approximately $27,740,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at $27,507,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE AYI traded down $2.32 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $336.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 77,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 332,674. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $311.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.19. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30. The stock has a market cap of $10.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior 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 fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $352.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

About Acuity

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.