BankPlus Trust Department Reduces Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

BankPlus Trust Department trimmed its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 20.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 189 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 48 shares during the quarter. BankPlus Trust Department’s holdings in Acuity were worth $50,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Durable Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Acuity by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $317,977,000 after buying an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Acuity during the 4th quarter worth $110,236,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Acuity by 29,415.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $59,852,000 after buying an additional 226,501 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Acuity by 241.8% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 216,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $63,102,000 after buying an additional 152,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Acuity by 1,256.1% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 161,183 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $47,086,000 after purchasing an additional 149,297 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of AYI opened at $298.43 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $275.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $282.08.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Acuity’s payout ratio is 5.36%.

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.