2,105 Shares in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Purchased by GHP Investment Advisors Inc.

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,105 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $554,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AYI. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity by 3.5% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,482 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $3,024,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Illumine Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Acuity by 3.3% during the first quarter. Illumine Investment Management LLC now owns 2,771 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Acuity by 0.4% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 37,316 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $9,827,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity by 9.6% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,534 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Acuity by 3.0% during 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. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Acuity stock traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $303.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 702,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,893. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $263.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $282.14. Acuity, Inc. has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30. The company has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.61.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is currently 5.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" 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 stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $340.60.

About Acuity

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.