Earnest Partners LLC Sells 3,795 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Earnest Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 257,687 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 3,795 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 0.84% of Acuity worth $88,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new position in Acuity in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity in the third quarter worth $33,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 122.2% during the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 100 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 5,200.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 106 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 target price on shares of Acuity in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $389.33.

Acuity Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Acuity stock opened at $260.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $310.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $339.41. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $380.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $4.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.24. Acuity had a net margin of 9.04% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Acuity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. Acuity’s payout ratio is presently 6.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total transaction of $1,538,110.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,523 shares in the company, valued at $6,655,557.29. This represents a 18.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.