23,868 Shares in Acuity, Inc. $AYI Bought by Regents Gate Capital LLP

Regents Gate Capital LLP bought a new position in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 23,868 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $7,121,000. Acuity accounts for about 2.5% of Regents Gate Capital LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 1,100.0% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the second quarter worth $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the second quarter worth $36,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity by 525.0% in the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity by 31.7% in the first quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 320 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,489 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.11, for a total value of $1,638,978.79. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 6,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,211,106.16. This trade represents a 42.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AYI. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Zacks Research raised shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $365.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Up 1.5%

AYI opened at $365.35 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $375.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $347.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $304.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.64.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.43%.

Acuity 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.