Acuity’s (AYI) Buy (B-) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings restated their buy (b-) rating on shares of Acuity (NYSE:AYI) in a research report report published on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

AYI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Zacks Research upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Down 3.7%

AYI opened at $347.14 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $332.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $375.67.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is 5.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Acuity by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $821,287,000 after buying an additional 14,071 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in Acuity by 50,220.2% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $676,764,000 after buying an additional 2,263,925 shares during the period. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Acuity by 13.8% during the second quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,249,899 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $372,895,000 after buying an additional 151,414 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Acuity by 1.7% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $300,181,000 after buying an additional 18,878 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Acuity by 6.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 840,508 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $250,759,000 after buying an additional 50,491 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Acuity

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.