Credit Agricole S A Has $2.67 Million Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Credit Agricole S A raised its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 34.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,137 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,585 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A’s holdings in Acuity were worth $2,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 525.0% in the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 45.3% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at $79,000. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 31.7% in the first quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the 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 directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% 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.

Acuity Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of Acuity stock opened at $326.9210 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $301.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $280.07.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.