Corebridge Financial Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Corebridge Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,865 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 720 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned 0.11% of Acuity worth $8,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased 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 valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Acuity by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Comerica Bank increased its position in Acuity by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,053,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Acuity by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Acuity by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the company’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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $334.64 on Thursday. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.64. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $305.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.49.

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 the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th 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, July 18th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $340.60.

About Acuity

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.