Martingale Asset Management L P Has $4.61 Million Stock Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Martingale Asset Management L P lowered its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 37.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,493 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 10,555 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in Acuity were worth $4,607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in Acuity by 525.0% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Acuity by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at about $79,000. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. increased its position in Acuity by 31.7% in the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $314.4450 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.64 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $300.71 and its 200-day moving average is $280.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.15 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS 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 dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.36%.

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.