Millennium Management LLC Acquires 283,203 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 98.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 571,017 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 283,203 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 1.87% of Acuity worth $196,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,263,925 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Acuity in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $119,587,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $115,595,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Acuity by 64.0% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 574,975 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $171,580,000 after buying an additional 224,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Acuity by 345.3% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 224,729 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $77,394,000 after buying an additional 174,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Acuity from $385.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price target on shares of Acuity in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Monday, December 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $389.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 21,523 shares in the company, valued at $6,655,557.29. The trade was a 18.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Acuity Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of AYI opened at $264.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.50. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $380.17. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $308.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $338.95.

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

Acuity Increases Dividend

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

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.