Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Sold by Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. reduced its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 8.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 141,974 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 13,752 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $48,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity by 8,338.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 76,543 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $20,158,000 after purchasing an additional 11,144 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $345,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the second quarter worth approximately $555,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 136.8% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 296 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AYI. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price objective on Acuity in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Acuity Price Performance

AYI opened at $311.82 on Friday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $335.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $342.72. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $380.17. The firm has a market cap of $9.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Acuity Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total value of $1,538,110.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,655,557.29. This trade represents a 18.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Company 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.