JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 131,463 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reduced its holdings in Acuity, Inc. by 14.3%, now owning approximately 790,017 shares valued at $208 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors have also increased their stakes in Acuity, with notable increases including Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosting its position by 525% during the same period.
• Acuity reported strong financial results with earnings per share of $5.12, exceeding estimates, and a revenue increase of 21.7% year-over-year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its holdings 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 Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 790,017 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 131,463 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 2.56% of Acuity worth $208,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after acquiring an additional 668,048 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 29,415.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $59,852,000 after acquiring an additional 226,501 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 1,256.1% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 161,183 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,086,000 after acquiring an additional 149,297 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter worth about $27,507,000. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 1st quarter worth about $24,311,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity news, 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This represents 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 owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research 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 stock an "equal weight" 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Down 1.9%

AYI traded down $6.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $313.58. The company had a trading volume of 271,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 295,285. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38. 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 price is $297.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.28. The company has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.36%.

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.