Acuity (NYSE:AYI) CFO Sells $1,538,110.02 in Stock

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) CFO Karen Holcom sold 4,974 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Acuity Stock Down 1.4%

AYI opened at $309.21 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $349.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $341.83. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $380.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last released 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 firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.04% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Acuity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Acuity’s payout ratio is 5.23%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased 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 valued at $676,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,263,925 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Acuity by 6,496.7% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 692,189 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $249,216,000 after purchasing an additional 681,696 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter valued at approximately $119,587,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter worth $115,595,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 98.4% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 571,017 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $196,653,000 after purchasing an additional 283,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Acuity from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Acuity in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed 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 note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

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.