First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Increases Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 256.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,523 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,255 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity in the first quarter valued at $250,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Acuity in the first quarter valued at $379,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity by 20.7% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity by 12.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 542,715 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $142,907,000 after purchasing an additional 60,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity by 12.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Price Performance

Acuity stock opened at $368.23 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $342.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $298.79. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $375.67. The stock has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. 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 payout ratio is 5.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.