Short Interest in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Increases By 7.9%

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,640,000 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the May 31st total of 1,520,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 263,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.2 days. Currently, 5.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on 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 lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.1 %

AYI opened at $243.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a 50 day moving average of $253.88 and a 200-day moving average of $245.42. Acuity Brands has a 52 week low of $155.34 and a 52 week high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.50 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 14.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the third quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,938 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 19.1% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 349 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands 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.