LPL Financial LLC Purchases 3,895 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 32.3% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 3,895 shares to bring its total to 15,956 shares valued at approximately $4.2 million.
• Acuity's CFO recently sold 6,000 shares at an average price of $301.04, reducing her ownership by 24.3%, while other executives also sold shares, indicating possible insider profit-taking.
• The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $5.12 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 21.7% signaling strong financial performance.

LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 32.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,956 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 3,895 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Acuity worth $4,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in Acuity by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 77,657 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $20,451,000 after purchasing an additional 4,896 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Acuity by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,236 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $2,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,686 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 958 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,357 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $2,464,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. lifted its stake in Acuity by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 1,272 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $319.77 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $296.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $280.70. The company has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.20, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is 5.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Acuity 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.

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