Allianz SE Makes New Investment in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Allianz SE acquired a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,410 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Acuity by 121.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 9,312 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,207,000 after purchasing an additional 5,105 shares in the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. now owns 99,560 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $34,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,452 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the second quarter valued at about $119,587,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Acuity by 9.0% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,784 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $33,332,000 after buying an additional 7,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Acuity by 51.7% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $953,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of Acuity 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,523 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Zacks Research cut Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Monday, December 29th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Acuity from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Down 2.0%

AYI stock opened at $301.27 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $329.16 and a 200 day moving average of $342.68. The firm has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.50. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $380.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Acuity Increases Dividend

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

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.