Smith Group Asset Management LLC Acquires 6,198 Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 73,644 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 6,198 shares during the quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.24% of Acuity worth $19,394,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $906,930,000 after purchasing an additional 16,407 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $327,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after purchasing an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 644,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $188,211,000 after purchasing an additional 17,299 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $298.86 on Tuesday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $264.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $282.01. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. The business's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 0.23%. Acuity's payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.

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