Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 3,859 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 10.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,484 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 3,859 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Acuity worth $11,188,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity by 15.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity in the first quarter valued at about $1,021,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity by 31.7% during the first quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,307 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 stock was 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 directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, 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. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AYI. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Acuity Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $4.50 during trading on Friday, reaching $301.68. 218,380 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 350,207. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.62. The business's fifty day moving average is $281.61 and its 200-day moving average is $281.88. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.15 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

Acuity 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.