Oak Thistle LLC Boosts Stock Position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Oak Thistle LLC grew its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 71.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,023 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC's holdings in Acuity were worth $796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 25,200 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $6,636,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Acuity during the first quarter worth $6,562,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 127.1% in the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 4,306 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 76.5% in the first quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,408 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 225.0% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 9,750 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,568,000 after purchasing an additional 6,750 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $4.50 during trading on Friday, hitting $301.68. 218,380 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 291,525. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $282.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $281.86. The firm has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.77, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.62.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, 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 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AYI. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.