Acuity, Inc. $AYI Stake Lifted by Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt

Key Points

• Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in Acuity, Inc. by 24.4% in Q2, owning 13,750 shares worth approximately $4.1 million.
• Acuity, Inc. reported earnings of $5.12 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, marking a 21.7% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.2% and a payout ratio of 5.36%.

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 24.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,750 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt's holdings in Acuity were worth $4,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,550 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 83,369 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $24,355,000 after purchasing an additional 20,190 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,185,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at about $204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business'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 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. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $352.60.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded down $8.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $336.31. 621,545 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 215,702. The stock has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $348.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $318.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $283.15.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity's payout ratio is 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.