Acuity, Inc. $AYI Shares Sold by Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 45.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 155,726 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 127,463 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.51% of Acuity worth $46,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity by 1,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 525.0% in the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Acuity by 3,175.0% during the second quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research raised shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Acuity Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of AYI stock opened at $359.26 on Wednesday. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $375.67. The company has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $351.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $310.85.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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