Legal & General Group Plc Has $20.15 Million Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,526 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 587 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.22% of Acuity worth $20,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Matrix Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Acuity by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in Acuity by 0.3% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,053,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity by 3.9% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,357 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 1.8% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total transaction of $1,724,862.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 10,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,880,665.45. This trade represents a 30.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Stock Up 0.1%

AYI opened at $366.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $356.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $319.38. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $375.67.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.20 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.30 EPS. Acuity has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.000-20.500 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

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.