17,460 Shares in Acuity, Inc. $AYI Acquired by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 17,460 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $6,576,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Miller Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of AYI stock opened at $325.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $341.17 and a 200-day moving average of $309.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Acuity, Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.04 and a 1-year high of $380.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.26% and a net margin of 10.25%.The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In related news, CFO Karen Holcom sold 2,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.62, for a total transaction of $659,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 17,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,750,880.14. This trade represents a 10.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AYI. Oppenheimer set a $465.00 target price on Acuity in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Acuity from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.17.

Acuity Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.