Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $1.37 Million Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its holdings in Acuity, Inc. by 18.8%, now owning 4,597 shares valued at approximately $1.37 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their stakes in Acuity, with Vanguard Group Inc. boosting its ownership by 0.5% to 3,118,613 shares valued at $821.29 million.
• Wall Street analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Acuity with a price target averaging $357.60, reflecting positive sentiment among firms like Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley.

Park Avenue Securities LLC lessened its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,597 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 1,062 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Acuity were worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $821,287,000 after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 1.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 18,878 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,098,485 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $289,286,000 after purchasing an additional 10,008 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $219,237,000 after purchasing an additional 24,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 34.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $157,910,000 after purchasing an additional 157,790 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $357.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were 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 owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $334.83 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $322.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $284.85. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.65.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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