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 purchased a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 76,447 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $20,132,000. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG owned about 0.25% of Acuity at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity by 525.0% in the first 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Acuity by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity by 45.3% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter worth $71,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business'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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. This trade represents 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 company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird lifted 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 lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Down 2.1%

Acuity stock traded down $6.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $304.87. 290,082 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 293,564. The company has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $286.83 and a 200-day moving average of $281.19.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The company 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued 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 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.