Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Sold by Martingale Asset Management L P

Key Points

• Martingale Asset Management L P decreased its holdings in Acuity, Inc. by 37.6%, owning 17,493 shares worth approximately $4.61 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Analysts have recently upgraded their price targets for Acuity, Inc., with Morgan Stanley raising its target from $335 to $365 and assigning an "overweight" rating.
• Acuity Brands reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $5.12, exceeding consensus estimates by $0.68, with a revenue increase of 21.7% year-over-year.

Martingale Asset Management L P reduced its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 37.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,493 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 10,555 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P owned 0.06% of Acuity worth $4,607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $821,287,000 after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $300,181,000 after buying an additional 18,878 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Acuity by 158.9% in the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $317,977,000 after purchasing an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Acuity by 3.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $219,237,000 after acquiring an additional 24,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Acuity by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 455,427 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $133,044,000 after purchasing an additional 82,947 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of Acuity stock traded up $12.6310 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $326.9210. 144,261 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 270,855. The company has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a fifty day moving average of $301.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.73. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity's payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

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 stock was 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 directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.60.

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.