Boston Trust Walden Corp Has $86.41 Million Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 43.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 289,635 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,153 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Acuity were worth $86,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AYI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Acuity by 103.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 312,904 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $82,403,000 after purchasing an additional 158,741 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 34.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $157,910,000 after buying an additional 157,790 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the first quarter valued at about $33,325,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the first quarter valued at about $28,341,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the first quarter valued at about $27,740,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AYI. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.17.

Acuity Trading Up 3.4%

NYSE AYI opened at $359.76 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $333.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $292.24. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $375.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. 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 presently 5.43%.

Acuity 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.