Richard Reece (Insider Trades), CFO and executive vice president of Acuity Brands Inc. (AYI), sold 33,430 company shares on July 11. The price per share was $269.07 for a total transaction of $8,995,010.
Acuity Brands is a global provider of indoor and outdoor lighting and energy management solutions. The company has a market cap of $11.78 billion and a P/S ratio of 3.77.
The volume of insider sells decreased from 11 transactions for 173,595 shares in 2013 to seven transactions for 223,738 shares the following year. The number and volume of insider sells increased to 12 transactions for 255,300 shares in 2015. There was only one insider buy between 2013 and 2015. The decrease in the number of insider sells during 2014 corresponds to a drop in month end price. 
Reece sold 130,900 shares in six transactions since 2013. His earliest insider sell in 2013 of 18,000 shares, for $85.19 per share, increased in value by about 200% since then. Besides Reece, two other Acuity Brands insiders have decreased their stakes this month. Executive Vice President Mark Black (Insider Trades) sold 2,654 shares for $250.27 per share, and director Ray Robinson (Insider Trades) sold 786 shares of Acuity Brands for $248.55 per share. For more information about insider transactions with Acuity Brands, click here.
The company reported net sales of $851.5 million in the fiscal third quarter ended May 31. Net sales increased from $683.7 million reported by the company in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Gross profit also increased from $295.6 million to $377.9 million in the same time period. Net income for the third quarters of 2015 and 2016 were $64.5 million, or $1.48 per share, and $74.0 million, or $1.69 per share. Annual revenue and annual net income increased 11.69% and 22.73% since 2011.
Vernon Nagel, CEO, president and chairman of Acuity Brands, commented that the “integration of recent acquisitions, which include Distech Controls, Juno Lighting and Geometri, continues to go well.” Acuity Brands announced the acquisition of 100% of the equity interests of DGLogik Inc., a San Francisco Bay area provider of software solutions that enable and visualize the Internet of Things. Nagel commented that the acquisition will “accelerate the expansion of Acuity Brands’ portfolio of holistic Internet of Things solutions.”
According to GuruFocus.com information, Acuity Brands has a business predictability rank of 1 out of 5 stars. For more information about business predictability rank, click here.
Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) both sold out all held shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter. Royce sold 52,095 shares at an average price of $206.27Â per share, and Simons sold 115,648 shares. The total estimated gain of the holdings was 51% and 32%. For more information about guru trades with Acuity Brands, click here.
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