Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 11.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,040 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,431 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Acuity were worth $3,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Matrix Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 8.7% in the second quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 2.4% in the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 0.3% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,053,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 1.8% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 15.0% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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 equities 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $359.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a PE 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 quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $333.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $292.24. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $375.67.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

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.