Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Has $1.51 Million Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,044 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 721 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Acuity during the 1st quarter worth $250,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Acuity in the 1st quarter valued at $379,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Acuity by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Acuity by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 542,715 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $142,907,000 after purchasing an additional 60,784 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Acuity by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE:AYI opened at $368.23 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $342.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $299.30. The stock has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. 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 issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. 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.