TD Asset Management Inc Acquires New Shares in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Key Points

• TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in Q2, purchasing 1,156 shares valued at approximately $345,000.
• Acuity recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, with a payout date on November 3rd and an annualized yield of 0.2%.
• Multiple brokerages have raised their price targets for Acuity, with TD Cowen increasing it to $390.00, reflecting positive analyst sentiment.

TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,156 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $821,287,000 after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 1.7% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $300,181,000 after purchasing an additional 18,878 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in Acuity by 0.9% in the first quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,098,485 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $289,286,000 after purchasing an additional 10,008 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 3.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $219,237,000 after purchasing an additional 24,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 34.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $157,910,000 after acquiring an additional 157,790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Stock Up 3.7%

NYSE:AYI opened at $370.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $375.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $341.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.79.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AYI. TD Cowen increased their price target on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.17.

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.

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