Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Acquired by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. significantly increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 325.0% in the first quarter, resulting in a holding worth approximately $1.37 million.
• Brokerages have forecasted growth for Acuity, with price targets raised by analysts such as Robert W. Baird and Morgan Stanley, suggesting a consensus price target of $340.60.
• Acuity recently reported quarterly earnings of $5.12 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations and demonstrating a 21.7% year-over-year revenue increase.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 325.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,189 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,968 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity in the first quarter worth $250,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted 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. boosted its position in Acuity by 16.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,827 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $26,290,000 after purchasing an additional 14,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Acuity by 38.2% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 186,021 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $48,989,000 after acquiring an additional 51,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Acuity Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of AYI stock traded down $3.79 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $307.61. 248,252 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 350,271. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The business's fifty day moving average is $288.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.26. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.64.

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 net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.