Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Buys 1,546 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 27.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,161 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Acuity were worth $1,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Acuity by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity in the fourth quarter worth approximately $71,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock traded down $4.48 during trading on Monday, reaching $298.86. 420,793 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 306,363. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $485.34. The firm's 50-day moving average is $263.22 and its 200 day moving average is $282.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.61.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.15 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Acuity's payout ratio is 5.16%.

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.