Caitlin John LLC Sells 3,541 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Caitlin John LLC lessened its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 63.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,075 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 3,541 shares during the period. Caitlin John LLC’s holdings in Acuity were worth $546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity during the 1st quarter valued at $250,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Acuity by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in Acuity by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,592 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,827 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $26,290,000 after acquiring an additional 14,218 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Acuity by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 186,021 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $48,989,000 after acquiring an additional 51,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $326.9210 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $301.95 and a 200 day moving average of $280.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.36%.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity 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.