Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. Invests $119,000 in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 400 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $119,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Acuity by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $821,287,000 after acquiring an additional 14,071 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 18,878 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Acuity by 0.9% in the first quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,098,485 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $289,286,000 after purchasing an additional 10,008 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Acuity by 3.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $219,237,000 after purchasing an additional 24,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Acuity by 34.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $157,910,000 after buying an additional 157,790 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total value of $1,724,862.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 10,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,880,665.45. This represents a 30.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $363.28 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $306.85. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $375.67.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AYI. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

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.