NewEdge Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 8,797 Acuity, Inc. $AYI

NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,797 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,314,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 8,338.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 76,543 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $20,158,000 after purchasing an additional 11,144 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 372.7% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 208 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Acuity by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,134 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $762,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AYI. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Acuity from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. Oppenheimer set a $465.00 price objective on shares of Acuity in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.17.

Acuity Trading Down 1.8%

AYI opened at $342.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $257.04 and a twelve month high of $380.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $338.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.57.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. Acuity had a net margin of 10.25% and a return on equity of 20.26%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 18.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s payout ratio is 5.31%.

Acuity Company Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.