Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC Buys 1,477 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 76.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,408 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,477 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Acuity were worth $897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $906,930,000 after buying an additional 16,407 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Acuity by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $327,471,000 after buying an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Acuity by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $326,452,000 after buying an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Acuity by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after buying an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Acuity by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $188,211,000 after buying an additional 17,299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Acuity Stock Down 0.1%

Acuity stock traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $290.55. 10,798 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 350,124. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.62. The business's 50-day moving average price is $278.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is 5.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AYI. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.

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