Rehmann Capital Advisory Group Increases Holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 24.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,402 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group's holdings in Acuity were worth $1,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Acuity by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. GeoWealth Management LLC grew its position in Acuity by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 790 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. 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 valued at $47,000 after acquiring 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 valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,345 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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 boosted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $340.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Acuity Price Performance

Acuity stock traded down $4.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $298.43. The stock had a trading volume of 200,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,849. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm's 50 day moving average is $275.90 and its 200 day moving average is $281.94. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30.

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 the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during 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%. Acuity's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is currently 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.