Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) to Equal Weight

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $260.00 target price on the electronics maker’s stock, down from their prior target price of $295.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 7.19% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.2 %

AYI opened at $242.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $243.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.44. Acuity Brands has a 52 week low of $154.72 and a 52 week high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,686,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 worth $187,987,000 after acquiring an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Vision One Management Partners LP acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,901,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,188,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $139,667,000 after acquiring an additional 89,192 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.