Point72 Europe London LLP Buys Shares of 28,500 Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Point72 Europe London LLP invested approximately $7.51 million in Acuity, Inc., acquiring 28,500 shares during the first quarter, representing a 0.09% ownership stake.
• Acuity's most recent quarterly earnings report revealed earnings per share of $5.12, exceeding estimates by $0.68, with revenues totaling $1.18 billion, a 21.7% increase year-over-year.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Acuity, with an average target now at $340.60, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for the stock.

Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 28,500 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $7,505,000. Point72 Europe London LLP owned about 0.09% of Acuity as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $250,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Acuity by 12.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Acuity by 3.0% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,592 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Acuity by 16.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,827 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $26,290,000 after acquiring an additional 14,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Acuity by 38.2% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 186,021 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $48,989,000 after purchasing an additional 51,430 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $352.60.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the company'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 transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. This represents 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:AYI traded down $1.49 on Wednesday, reaching $331.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 132,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 226,182. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $310.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $280.66.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for 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 in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were given 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 is 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.