Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Shares Gap Down to $237.53

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $237.53, but opened at $231.54. Acuity Brands shares last traded at $236.53, with a volume of 90,432 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.75.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a fifty day moving average of $254.57 and a 200-day moving average of $243.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 stock was 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 approximately $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

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $320,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 54,664 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $9,310,000 after purchasing an additional 14,392 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 31.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 154,905 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $26,382,000 after purchasing an additional 36,949 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 53.9% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,450 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 16,132 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after buying an additional 4,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.