GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $554,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AYI. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Acuity by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 7,807 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,281,000 after acquiring an additional 2,934 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 81.1% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 518 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 64.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 4,600 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Acuity during the fourth quarter worth $554,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 6,092 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $315.00 target price on shares of Acuity and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.60.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $286.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $260.21 and a 200-day moving average of $282.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity had a return on equity of 19.73% and a net margin of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.38 EPS. Acuity’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Acuity

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.