Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Stock: Insider Barry Goldman Sells 3,800 Shares

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) SVP Barry Goldman sold 3,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.48, for a total value of $1,221,624.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,580 shares in the company, valued at $2,115,338.40. The trade was a 36.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI traded up $4.54 on Tuesday, reaching $323.26. 283,733 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 394,173. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 18.90, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $318.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $310.44. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.04 and a 52-week high of $380.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 20.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 16th will be issued 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 is Friday, October 16th. Acuity’s payout ratio is 4.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of Acuity by 8.8% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 42,944 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $16,175,000 after purchasing an additional 3,478 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its holdings in Acuity by 63.7% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 20,170 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,597,000 after buying an additional 7,846 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,450,000. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. increased its position in shares of Acuity by 176.5% during the first quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. now owns 44,803 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $12,555,000 after buying an additional 28,600 shares during the period. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity during the second quarter valued at about $9,736,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Acuity from $440.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. William Blair cut shares of Acuity from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Acuity from $360.00 to $348.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $374.20.

Acuity Company Profile

Acuity (NYSE: AYI), formerly known as Acuity Brands, is a technology company focused on improving how people experience and manage indoor and outdoor spaces. Its businesses develop lighting, lighting controls, building-management systems and related solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential applications.

The company’s offerings include LED lighting fixtures, connected lighting systems, sensors, controls, building automation technologies and location-aware software.