Meritage Portfolio Management Reduces Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,317 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 555 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management owned about 0.10% of Acuity worth $8,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Matrix Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 8.7% during the second quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 2.4% during the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 0.3% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,053,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 1.8% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 15.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AYI. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. One equities 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Down 3.7%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $347.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $332.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $291.39. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.43%.

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.