J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Takes Position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc., purchasing 76,447 shares valued at approximately $20.1 million, representing about 0.25% ownership of the company.
• Brokerages have shown optimism for Acuity, with upgrades to a "strong-buy" rating and targets raised, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.2%, highlighting strong cash flow with a dividend payout ratio (DPR) of 5.36%.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 76,447 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $20,132,000. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG owned approximately 0.25% of Acuity as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 3.2% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 790 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 50.5% in 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. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $3.79 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $307.61. The company had a trading volume of 243,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 349,538. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.64. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $288.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.26.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 earnings per share. Acuity's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is presently 5.36%.

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.