Vestcor Inc Buys New Position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Key Points

• Vestcor Inc has initiated a new investment in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI), acquiring 1,958 shares valued at approximately $516,000.
• Acuity's stock recently traded at $310.20, with a market cap of $9.51 billion and a P/E ratio of 24.44, highlighting its strong performance.
• The company reported earnings of $5.12 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates and showing a 21.7% year-over-year growth in revenue.

Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,958 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $516,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 78.8% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,061 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $3,523,000 after purchasing an additional 5,316 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,187 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Acuity by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $188,211,000 after buying an additional 17,299 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Acuity stock traded down $2.39 during trading on Thursday, hitting $305.64. The stock had a trading volume of 95,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 348,556. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $281.26. The company has a market capitalization of $9.37 billion, a PE ratio of 24.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 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 the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.