World Investment Advisors Buys New Stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,102 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Acuity by 158.9% during the 4th 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at $110,236,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 226,501 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Acuity by 241.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $63,102,000 after purchasing an additional 152,807 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Acuity by 1,256.1% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 149,297 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a 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, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Down 1.4%

Acuity stock traded down $4.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $298.43. The stock had a trading volume of 200,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,465. The company has a market cap of $9.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.62. The business's 50 day moving average price is $275.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $282.23. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. 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 (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In related news, 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 transaction 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. This trade 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 company's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. The trade was 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.

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.