T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. has acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc. during the first quarter, purchasing 126,541 shares valued at approximately $33.3 million, representing 0.41% of the company's stock.
• Insider trading was notable, with SVP Barry R. Goldman selling 4,125 shares and CFO Karen J. Holcom selling 6,000 shares, reducing their ownership significantly.
• Research firms have recently adjusted their price targets for Acuity, with Wells Fargo raising it to $320 and Morgan Stanley increasing it to $365, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 126,541 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $33,325,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 0.41% of Acuity as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mariner LLC raised its position in Acuity by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 2,111 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $617,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in Acuity by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 9,807 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $2,865,000 after buying an additional 1,197 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Acuity by 176.8% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,547 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 1,627 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,841 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $9,595,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,940,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of Acuity stock traded down $4.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $329.69. 122,629 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 338,085. The business has a 50-day moving average of $305.49 and a 200 day moving average of $280.49. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, 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 value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Acuity Company 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.