Teacher Retirement System of Texas Lowers Stock Position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 18.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,576 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 6,547 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.10% of Acuity worth $7,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Acuity by 50.5% in 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 last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at $71,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 520.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity by 45.3% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the 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. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the 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 $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 corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a 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. 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, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

Acuity stock traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $306.39. 49,572 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 306,539. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The company has a market capitalization of $9.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.62. The firm's fifty day moving average is $271.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.96.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. Acuity's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.22%. Acuity's payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

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.