New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 878 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,519 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 878 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.40% of Acuity worth $32,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Acuity by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Acuity by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 790 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Acuity by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,345 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of AYI traded down $2.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $286.88. 236,042 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 306,810. The stock has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.62. 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's 50 day simple moving average is $278.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $282.00. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.15 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.