Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 5,403 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 6.1% during Q1, holding 83,517 shares valued at approximately $21.93 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in Acuity, with Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raising its stake by 38.2%, now owning 186,021 shares worth around $48.99 million.
• Acuity reported strong Q2 earnings, with an EPS of $5.12, surpassing analysts' estimates, and its revenue increased by 21.7% year-over-year to $1.18 billion.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,517 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 5,403 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.27% of Acuity worth $21,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. CCM Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity in the first quarter worth $390,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Acuity during the first quarter worth $27,740,000. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its position in Acuity by 36.8% during the first quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 2,024 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its position in shares of Acuity by 9.5% in the first quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 1,088 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity by 2.4% in the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the 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 owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $5.68 during trading on Monday, hitting $319.49. 284,992 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 297,862. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.64. The business's fifty day moving average is $298.13 and its 200 day moving average is $279.81. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued 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 business 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.15 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity's dividend 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.