Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 22.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 48,627 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 14,320 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Acuity were worth $17,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Genus Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Acuity by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Genus Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,970 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,230,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Acuity by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 370 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP grew its position in Acuity by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 33,336 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $12,003,000 after buying an additional 739 shares during the period. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new stake in Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $565,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Acuity by 451.8% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,819 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,615,000 after buying an additional 10,496 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Acuity from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Acuity from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Acuity from $342.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Acuity from $385.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $369.17.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Laura O’shaughnessy purchased 1,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $282.98 per share, with a total value of $282,980.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 3,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $880,350.78. This represents a 47.37% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $288.83 per share, for a total transaction of $57,766.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 400 shares in the company, valued at $115,532. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of AYI opened at $307.62 on Tuesday. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $253.03 and a twelve month high of $380.17. The company has a market cap of $9.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $284.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $314.15.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 2nd. The electronics maker reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.03. Acuity had a net margin of 9.37% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.06 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 17th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.87%.

Acuity Company 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.