Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Acuity (NYSE:AYI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

AYI has been the subject of several other reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. William Blair cut Acuity from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Acuity from $360.00 to $348.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity from $295.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $390.20.

Acuity Stock Down 1.2%

Acuity stock opened at $305.04 on Friday. Acuity has a twelve month low of $257.04 and a twelve month high of $380.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $329.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $312.23. The company has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.57 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 20.30%. Acuity’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Acuity will post 19.95 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 16th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 16th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.68%.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In other news, CFO Karen Holcom sold 2,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.62, for a total value of $659,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 17,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,750,880.14. The trade was a 10.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,121,983,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 8.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 635,160 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $177,970,000 after buying an additional 47,880 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Acuity in the second quarter valued at approximately $106,018,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Acuity by 32.2% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 378,006 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $105,925,000 after acquiring an additional 92,094 shares during the period. Finally, 140 Summer Partners LP grew its stake in Acuity by 375.5% during the fourth quarter. 140 Summer Partners LP now owns 225,860 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $81,319,000 after acquiring an additional 178,360 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Company Profile

Acuity (NYSE: AYI) is a technology company that provides lighting, lighting controls and building-management solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential environments. Its products are designed to improve illumination, energy efficiency, automation and the overall performance of indoor and outdoor spaces.

The company offers a broad portfolio of lighting fixtures, controls, sensors and connected-building technologies. Its brands and product lines have included Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, SensorSwitch, Distech Controls and Atrius.