Blair William & Co. IL Sells 1,431 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 11.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,040 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,431 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Acuity were worth $3,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Acuity during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity by 525.0% during the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity by 31.7% during the first quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Acuity by 1,789.5% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 359 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Acuity by 31.2% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 328 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $359.76 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $333.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $292.24. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $375.67. The company has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Acuity Company Profile

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.