Praxis Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Acuity, Inc. $AYI

Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 1,210 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $361,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Matrix Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Acuity by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Comerica Bank increased its stake in Acuity by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,389 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,053,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Acuity by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,188 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 15.0% in 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Price Performance

AYI opened at $357.12 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $375.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.95 billion, a PE ratio of 28.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $338.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.73.

Acuity Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on AYI shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research raised Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.