Acuity (NYSE:AYI) CEO Neil Ashe Sells 8,187 Shares of Stock

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) CEO Neil Ashe sold 8,187 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.44, for a total value of $2,656,190.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 78,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,330,653. The trade was a 9.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Neil Ashe also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, October 28th, Neil Ashe sold 22,060 shares of Acuity stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.33, for a total transaction of $7,000,299.80.

Acuity Trading Down 2.9%

NYSE:AYI traded down $9.59 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $317.77. The stock had a trading volume of 301,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,297. The company has a market cap of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.30. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $257.04 and a one year high of $380.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $315.45 and its 200-day moving average is $309.90.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.57 by $0.20. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.30% and a net margin of 11.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 20.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 16th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is 4.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Acuity from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Acuity from $440.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, William Blair downgraded Acuity from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $374.20.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AYI. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Acuity during the second quarter worth $30,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Acuity during the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Acuity by 110.2% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 103 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Company Profile

Acuity (NYSE: AYI), formerly known as Acuity Brands, is a technology company focused on improving how people experience and manage indoor and outdoor spaces. Its businesses develop lighting, lighting controls, building-management systems and related solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential applications.

The company’s offerings include LED lighting fixtures, connected lighting systems, sensors, controls, building automation technologies and location-aware software.