Rehmann Capital Advisory Group Purchases 870 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 24.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,402 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group's holdings in Acuity were worth $1,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Acuity during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Acuity by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Acuity by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity by 520.0% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Acuity presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Down 2.0%

AYI traded down $6.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $296.60. 61,968 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 307,581. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $274.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $282.26. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is 5.36%.

Acuity 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.