Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Trims Stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 82.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,160 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 5,340 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s holdings in Acuity were worth $305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Acuity by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $906,930,000 after acquiring an additional 16,407 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $327,471,000 after buying an additional 8,705 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $326,452,000 after buying an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after buying an additional 668,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $188,211,000 after buying an additional 17,299 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AYI. 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 research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $305.17. 167,949 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 307,508. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.62.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 currently owned by insiders.

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.