Trium Capital LLP Sells 357 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Trium Capital LLP reduced its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 13.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,205 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 357 shares during the quarter. Trium Capital LLP’s holdings in Acuity were worth $581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 45.3% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 520.0% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $304.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $272.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $282.11. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.62.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $340.60.

Acuity Company Profile

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.