Evolve Private Wealth LLC Takes Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Evolve Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 11,511 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,336,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Acuity in the second quarter worth about $1,121,983,000. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity by 50,220.2% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $676,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,263,925 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $138,747,000. Palestra Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $91,539,000. Finally, Alua Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $63,377,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Up 0.6%

AYI opened at $343.66 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.04 and a fifty-two week high of $380.17. The company has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $339.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.82.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Acuity from $295.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $465.00 target price on shares of Acuity in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.