Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Purchases 721 Shares of Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 16.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,044 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Acuity were worth $1,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Acuity Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE AYI opened at $368.23 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. Acuity, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $375.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $342.73 and a 200-day moving average of $299.30. The company has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.