Corient Private Wealth LP Makes New Investment in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 17,646 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $6,647,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,134 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $637,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 1.6% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 6,805 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,450,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Acuity by 1.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,338 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in Acuity by 59.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 113 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AYI. Oppenheimer set a $465.00 price target on shares of Acuity in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $295.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.17.

Acuity Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:AYI opened at $335.44 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $342.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $308.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.30. Acuity, Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.04 and a 1-year high of $380.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

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

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 17th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 17th. Acuity’s payout ratio is presently 5.31%.

About Acuity

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.