TD Cowen Issues Positive Forecast for Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Stock Price

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) had its target price hoisted by TD Cowen from $330.00 to $390.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AYI. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Performance

Acuity stock opened at $356.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.64. Acuity has a 1-year low of $216.81 and a 1-year high of $375.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $327.63 and its 200 day moving average is $287.76.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 currently 5.43%.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,134 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co boosted its position in Acuity by 8.7% during the second quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Acuity by 2.4% in the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Acuity by 3.2% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 5.4% during the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 955 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Company 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.