Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 3,674 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,268 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 3,674 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Acuity were worth $8,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in Acuity by 3.7% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 937 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Acuity by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,338 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $655,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Acuity by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,147 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $432,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 996 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 110.2% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 103 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other news, SVP Barry Goldman sold 3,800 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.48, for a total transaction of $1,221,624.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,115,338.40. The trade was a 36.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Neil Ashe sold 22,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.33, for a total value of $7,000,299.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,262 shares in the company, valued at $27,373,520.46. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,047 shares of company stock worth $11,537,354. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. William Blair lowered shares of Acuity from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Acuity from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Acuity from $360.00 to $348.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $374.20.

Acuity Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE:AYI opened at $330.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.24. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.04 and a twelve month high of $380.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $313.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $310.56. 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 (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.57 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.30% and a net margin of 11.45%. Acuity’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 20.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 16th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 16th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.68%.

Acuity Company Profile

Acuity (NYSE: AYI) designs, manufactures and sells lighting and building-management solutions. Its offerings include indoor and outdoor luminaires, lighting controls, building automation systems and related software for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential settings. The company sells products under a portfolio of brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Juno, Peerless, Gotham and Distech Controls. Its solutions help customers manage lighting, building systems and energy use across a range of facilities.