Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Hits New 12-Month High at $275.63

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $275.63 and last traded at $273.80, with a volume of 44734 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $269.74.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $286.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $248.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.00.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 366.2% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after buying an additional 271,485 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 187.8% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $79,755,000 after acquiring an additional 215,547 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 353.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $41,934,000 after acquiring an additional 135,350 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after buying an additional 107,171 shares during the period. Finally, Vision One Management Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,901,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.