First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases 3,255 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 256.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,523 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,255 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 12.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity by 27.5% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in Acuity by 3.0% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,592 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 38.2% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 186,021 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $48,989,000 after purchasing an additional 51,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 12.6% in the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,766 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on AYI shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $368.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $342.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $298.79. 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 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $375.67.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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