Mubadala Investment Co PJSC Takes Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Mubadala Investment Co PJSC has acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) purchasing 7,229 shares valued at approximately $1.9 million in the first quarter.
• Acuity reported a 21.7% increase in quarterly revenue compared to the same quarter last year, reaching $1.18 billion with earnings per share of $5.12, exceeding analysts' expectations.
• Institutional investors hold 98.21% of Acuity's stock, with notable increases from firms like Price T. Rowe Associates and Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec in the last quarter.

Mubadala Investment Co PJSC bought a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,229 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,904,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Acuity by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,841 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $9,595,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Acuity by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 345,618 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $100,965,000 after buying an additional 34,562 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems increased its position in Acuity by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 5,127 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,498,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,265,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in 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 valued at $47,086,000 after buying an additional 149,297 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Stock Down 1.1%

Acuity stock opened at $325.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $307.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $280.58. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month 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.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 5.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $340.60.

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.

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