Ellevest Inc. Has $216,000 Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Ellevest Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 724 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 482 shares during the period. Ellevest Inc.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 1st quarter valued at $250,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Acuity during the first quarter worth $379,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity by 20.7% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $7,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter valued at $407,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in 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. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research raised Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Down 1.4%

AYI opened at $358.35 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $375.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.62. The company’s 50-day moving average is $349.70 and its 200 day moving average is $307.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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%.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,489 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.11, for a total transaction of $1,638,978.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,211,106.16. This trade represents a 42.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Profile

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.