Hilltop National Bank Buys Shares of 625 Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 625 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $186,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Acuity by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $821,287,000 after buying an additional 14,071 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 1.7% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $300,181,000 after purchasing an additional 18,878 shares during the period. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 0.9% during the first quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,098,485 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $289,286,000 after purchasing an additional 10,008 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 3.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $219,237,000 after purchasing an additional 24,225 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 34.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $157,910,000 after purchasing an additional 157,790 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $353.00 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $375.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $328.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $288.52. The company has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average 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.