Matrix Trust Co Purchases 45 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Matrix Trust Co grew its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co’s holdings in Acuity were worth $169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity by 525.0% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Acuity by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at about $79,000. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in Acuity by 1,789.5% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 359 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total value of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Down 2.4%

AYI stock opened at $336.31 on Monday. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $348.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50 day moving average of $318.55 and a 200 day moving average of $283.22.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

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 $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.36%.

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.