Boston Trust Walden Corp Trims Position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Boston Trust Walden Corp decreased its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 202,482 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 3,425 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned about 0.66% of Acuity worth $53,324,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 951 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 1,896 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 790 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Acuity and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Acuity in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $323.60.

Acuity Stock Performance

AYI traded down $4.18 on Friday, reaching $273.26. The company had a trading volume of 491,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 306,254. Acuity, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $256.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $284.15.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 19.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.38 earnings per share. Acuity's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.16%.

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.