Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 325.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,189 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,968 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AYI. Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its stake in Acuity by 54.3% during the first quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 7,100 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,870,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the 1st quarter worth $516,000. De Lisle Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 27,211 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,172,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity by 56.1% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 20,561 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,415,000 after purchasing an additional 7,392 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $310.20 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.44, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.05.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. Acuity’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AYI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.