Virtus Advisers LLC Buys New Stake in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• Virtus Advisers LLC has invested approximately $211,000 to purchase 800 shares of Acuity, Inc. in the 1st quarter of 2023.
• Acuity's stock recently saw a 4.0% increase in value, currently trading around $326.92 with a market capitalization of $10.02 billion.
• Analysts have upgraded Acuity's stock ratings, with Morgan Stanley raising the price target from $335.00 to $365.00, reflecting a positive outlook on the company’s performance.

Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 800 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Acuity by 158.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 668,048 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Acuity by 29,415.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $59,852,000 after purchasing an additional 226,501 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in Acuity by 1,256.1% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 161,183 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $47,086,000 after purchasing an additional 149,297 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,325,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,740,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" 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 report on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded down $3.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $325.86. The stock had a trading volume of 231,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 244,675. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $307.58 and a 200-day moving average of $280.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a market capitalization of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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