Strs Ohio Purchases 557 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Strs Ohio boosted its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 9.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,665 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 557 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 1,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Acuity in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 16.7% in the second quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,044 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,505,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 255.9% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,146 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $939,000 after acquiring an additional 2,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. bought a new position in Acuity in the second quarter valued at approximately $596,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,687 shares of Acuity 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,880,665.45. The trade was 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 through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE:AYI opened at $360.62 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $348.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $306.46. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $375.67. The company has a market cap of $11.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.62.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 17th. Acuity’s payout ratio 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.