Hilltop National Bank Purchases Shares of 625 Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 625 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $186,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $821,287,000 after acquiring an additional 14,071 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $300,181,000 after acquiring an additional 18,878 shares during the period. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in Acuity by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,098,485 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $289,286,000 after acquiring an additional 10,008 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $219,237,000 after acquiring an additional 24,225 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 157,790 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $353.00 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $328.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 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 1.38. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $375.67.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

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.