Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Has $88,000 Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 136.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 296 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 171 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Acuity were worth $88,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth about $555,000. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth about $234,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth about $361,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 38.6% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 200,198 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $59,727,000 after buying an additional 55,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 43.0% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 289,635 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $86,410,000 after buying an additional 87,153 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. 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 research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. 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 research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.17.

Acuity Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of AYI opened at $368.23 on Friday. Acuity, Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $375.67. The firm has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $342.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $299.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is 5.43%.

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.