Great Lakes Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 3.3% in Q1, selling 1,732 shares and maintaining ownership of 51,255 shares valued at approximately $13.5 million.
• Acuity's latest earnings report showed $5.12 EPS, surpassing analyst expectations and an impressive 21.7% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, equating to an annualized yield of 0.2% and a payout ratio of 5.36%.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,255 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,732 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Acuity worth $13,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 1st quarter valued at about $250,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,592 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,827 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $26,290,000 after acquiring an additional 14,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 186,021 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $48,989,000 after acquiring an additional 51,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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 transaction 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 the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $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 corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $352.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

Acuity stock traded down $2.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $336.57. 303,947 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 332,064. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The company has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.65. The firm's fifty day moving average is $314.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The business 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%. Acuity's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. On average, equities research 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 was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is presently 5.36%.

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.