Petrus Trust Company LTA Has $608,000 Stake in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Petrus Trust Company LTA boosted its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 21.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,308 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. Petrus Trust Company LTA’s holdings in Acuity were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity by 525.0% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Acuity by 45.3% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Acuity during the fourth quarter worth $79,000. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity by 31.7% during the first quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $84,000 after buying 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 related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Acuity from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.60.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $338.65 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $311.75 and its 200 day moving average is $280.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.65. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30.

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, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th 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 was Friday, July 18th. Acuity’s payout ratio is currently 5.36%.

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.