Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,365 Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,365 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $407,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $379,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 12.6% in the 1st 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. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $365.79 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.81 and a 1 year high of $375.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $340.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $296.39. The firm has a market cap of $11.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Acuity from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.17.

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.