Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Stock: Insider Laura O’shaughnessy Acquires 73 Shares

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Director Laura O’shaughnessy bought 73 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $302.32 per share, with a total value of $22,069.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $962,586.88. The trade was a 2.35% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Acuity Trading Up 1.8%

AYI stock opened at $316.61 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $319.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $314.64. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.04 and a fifty-two week 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 firm has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.57 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 20.30%. Acuity’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 19.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 16th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.68%.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AYI. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Acuity during the second quarter valued at $1,121,983,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 8.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 635,160 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $177,970,000 after acquiring an additional 47,880 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter worth about $106,018,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 32.2% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 378,006 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $105,925,000 after acquiring an additional 92,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter worth about $77,212,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Acuity from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Acuity from $360.00 to $348.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 3rd. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Acuity from $440.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $374.20.

About Acuity

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.