Acuity (NYSE:AYI) CEO Neil Ashe Sells 8,187 Shares of Company Stock

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) CEO Neil Ashe sold 8,187 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.44, for a total transaction of $2,656,190.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,330,653. This trade represents a 9.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Neil Ashe also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, October 28th, Neil Ashe sold 22,060 shares of Acuity stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.33, for a total transaction of $7,000,299.80.

Acuity Stock Down 2.9%

AYI stock opened at $317.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $257.04 and a fifty-two week high of $380.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $314.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $309.91. The stock has a market cap of $9.44 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.57 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 20.30%. Acuity’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 20.04 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter worth about $1,121,983,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 635,160 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $177,970,000 after purchasing an additional 47,880 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 92,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 58.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 283,456 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $79,430,000 after purchasing an additional 104,990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 252,731 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $70,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,324 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Acuity from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 3rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Acuity from $360.00 to $348.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Acuity from $440.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.