Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Sold by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 14.3%, holding a total of 516,871 shares valued at approximately $136.12 million as of the latest report.
• Acuity recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, contributing to an annualized yield of 0.2% with a payout ratio of 5.36%.
• Analysts have adjusted their price targets for Acuity, with Morgan Stanley raising theirs to $365.00, highlighting a general consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $340.60.

Invesco Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 14.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 516,871 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 86,575 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.67% of Acuity worth $136,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Durable Capital Partners LP raised 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 valued at $317,977,000 after purchasing an additional 668,048 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Acuity by 29,415.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $59,852,000 after purchasing an additional 226,501 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Acuity by 1,256.1% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 161,183 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,086,000 after purchasing an additional 149,297 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,507,000. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in Acuity in the first quarter valued at approximately $24,311,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Acuity stock traded up $3.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $322.39. 18,473 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 342,281. 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 stock's fifty day moving average is $298.13 and its 200 day moving average is $279.81. The firm has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm 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%. The company's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AYI. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

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.