21,000 Shares in Acuity, Inc. $AYI Acquired by Value Holdings Management CO. LLC

Value Holdings Management CO. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 21,000 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $7,910,000. Acuity accounts for 1.3% of Value Holdings Management CO. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Miller Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new position in Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Acuity during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on AYI shares. Oppenheimer set a $465.00 price target on Acuity in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Acuity from $295.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.17.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $342.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $338.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $307.57. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.04 and a 52-week high of $380.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 10.25% and a return on equity of 20.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.12 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 17th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.31%.

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.