ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. Purchases 804 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. by 0.9%, owning a total of 93,108 shares valued at approximately $27.8 million after purchasing 804 additional shares.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Acuity, including Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC, which boosted its stake by 192.8% in the last quarter.
• Acuity's stock has received upgrades from multiple analysts, with Morgan Stanley raising its target price to $365.00 and Wells Fargo to $380.00, while the consensus target price is currently $371.25.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. grew its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,108 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 804 shares during the quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. owned about 0.30% of Acuity worth $27,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 192.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,615 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,697 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 82.7% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,451 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co boosted its stake in Acuity by 69.4% in the first quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 520 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 3.2% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Acuity by 45.3% in the first 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $371.25.

Acuity Trading Up 5.5%

NYSE AYI opened at $363.42 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $326.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.14. The company has a market capitalization of $11.14 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $375.67.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. 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 currently 5.36%.

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.

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