121 Shares in Acuity, Inc. $AYI Purchased by Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 121 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 103.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 312,904 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $82,403,000 after buying an additional 158,741 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Acuity by 34.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $157,910,000 after acquiring an additional 157,790 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,325,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Acuity in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,341,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Acuity in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,740,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total transaction of $1,724,862.87. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,880,665.45. This represents a 30.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Acuity Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of AYI opened at $360.44 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $345.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.28. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $375.67. The stock has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.