New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $9.60 Million Position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,436 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,400 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.12% of Acuity worth $9,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $906,930,000 after buying an additional 16,407 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $327,471,000 after buying an additional 8,705 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Acuity by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after buying an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 668,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $188,211,000 after buying an additional 17,299 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $2.63 on Tuesday, hitting $304.23. 213,435 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 307,514. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The stock has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $272.58 and a 200 day moving average of $282.11.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.