Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $287.75.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $238.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $255.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $242.28. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $154.72 and a 12-month high of $272.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,686,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $187,987,000 after purchasing an additional 161,818 shares during the last quarter. Vision One Management Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $21,901,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth $25,188,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $139,667,000 after purchasing an additional 89,192 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Acuity Brands

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.