First Trust Advisors LP Has $66.62 Million Stake in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 42.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 223,306 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,938 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Acuity were worth $66,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Acuity by 1,100.0% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 3,175.0% in the second quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Acuity by 372.7% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 208 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $371.29 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.49. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $359.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $323.53. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $379.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.84 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 9.13%.The business’s revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.30 EPS. Acuity has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.000-20.500 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s payout ratio is 5.43%.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total transaction of $1,724,862.87. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,880,665.45. This represents a 30.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Acuity from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Acuity Company Profile

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.