Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $14.91 Million Investment in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 39,591 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $14,912,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.13% of Acuity at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AYI. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 499.6% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 164,275 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $59,145,000 after purchasing an additional 136,879 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Acuity by 57.0% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 31,233 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,245,000 after buying an additional 11,341 shares during the last quarter. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new stake in Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,572,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new position in Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $9,736,000. Finally, Havemeyer Place LP bought a new position in Acuity during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AYI stock opened at $335.44 on Monday. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $257.04 and a 1 year high of $380.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $342.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $308.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.26% and a net margin of 10.25%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.49 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 17th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Acuity from $315.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $295.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer set a $465.00 target price on Acuity in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.17.

Acuity Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.