Allianz Asset Management GmbH Buys 55,757 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 38.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 200,198 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,757 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned about 0.65% of Acuity worth $59,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 525.0% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 31.2% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 328 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 1,789.5% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 359 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Down 1.1%

Acuity stock opened at $357.12 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $338.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $294.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $10.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $375.67.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is 5.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

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.