Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Cuts Stake in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB has reduced its holdings in Acuity, Inc. by 23.6%, now owning 22,483 shares valued at approximately $5.92 million.
• Analysts are optimistic, with price targets raised by firms like Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley, suggesting a consensus target price of $340.60 for Acuity's stock.
• Acuity has reported strong quarterly earnings of $5.12 EPS, beating estimates, with a 21.7% year-over-year revenue increase.

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ trimmed its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 23.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,483 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 6,960 shares during the quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ owned about 0.07% of Acuity worth $5,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 525.0% during the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings 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 valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at about $79,000. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 31.7% during the first quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $4.42 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $336.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 334,715. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $310.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $280.66. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.65.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report 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 boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $352.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 owned by insiders.

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.