JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 15.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 711,777 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 128,731 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 2.32% of Acuity worth $245,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 50,220.2% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $676,764,000 after buying an additional 2,263,925 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Acuity during the second quarter worth $119,587,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Acuity during the second quarter worth $115,595,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in Acuity by 64.0% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 574,975 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $171,580,000 after purchasing an additional 224,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Durable Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Acuity by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,249,899 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $372,895,000 after purchasing an additional 151,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total value of $1,538,110.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,655,557.29. The trade was a 18.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Acuity Price Performance

AYI opened at $311.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $335.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $342.72. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $380.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $4.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.04% and a return on equity of 20.97%. Acuity’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.97 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. This is an increase from Acuity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is 6.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AYI. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 target price on shares of Acuity in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Five research 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, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.17.

About Acuity

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.