Swiss National Bank Sells 1,000 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,000 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.19% of Acuity worth $17,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AYI. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in Acuity in the first quarter valued at about $379,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Acuity by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $7,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the second quarter worth about $407,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 51.7% during 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 during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 12.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 542,715 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $142,907,000 after buying an additional 60,784 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,489 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.11, for a total value of $1,638,978.79. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,211,106.16. This trade represents a 42.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of Acuity stock opened at $365.81 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.62. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $375.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $355.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $318.39.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.84 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.30 earnings per share. Acuity has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.000-20.500 EPS. Analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 17th. Acuity’s payout ratio is 5.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.17.

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.