Farther Finance Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 585.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 740 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 632 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Acuity were worth $221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 525.0% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in Acuity by 1,789.5% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 359 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Acuity by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 429 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Trading Up 5.5%

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $363.42 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $11.14 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity, Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $375.67. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $326.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.14.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.25.

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.