Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 14,071 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.09% of Acuity worth $821,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Acuity by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $327,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Acuity by 158.9% in the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $317,977,000 after buying an additional 668,048 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Acuity by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 455,427 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $133,044,000 after buying an additional 82,947 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Acuity by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 384,504 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $112,325,000 after buying an additional 12,492 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Acuity by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 345,618 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $100,965,000 after buying an additional 34,562 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $6.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $313.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 271,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 295,285. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $297.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.61. The company has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The company's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" 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, Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.60.

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.