Acuity (NYSE:AYI) CEO Sells 22,060 Shares of Company Stock

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) CEO Neil Ashe sold 22,060 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.33, for a total transaction of $7,000,299.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 86,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,373,520.46. This trade represents a 20.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Neil Ashe also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, October 29th, Neil Ashe sold 8,187 shares of Acuity stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.44, for a total value of $2,656,190.28.

Acuity Trading Down 2.9%

AYI traded down $9.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $317.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 301,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,297. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.30. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.04 and a twelve month high of $380.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $315.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $309.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.57 by $0.20. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.30% and a net margin of 11.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Acuity, Inc. will post 20.04 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 16th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Acuity’s payout ratio is currently 4.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AYI. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Acuity from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. William Blair cut shares of Acuity from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Acuity from $440.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $374.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Acuity in the second quarter worth $1,121,983,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity during the second quarter valued at approximately $106,018,000. Alua Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 1st quarter worth $63,377,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Acuity in the 2nd quarter worth about $77,212,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Acuity by 87.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 213,801 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $59,911,000 after purchasing an additional 100,036 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Acuity

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.