Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on AYI. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.0 %

AYI stock opened at $317.88 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $199.47 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $315.54 and its 200-day moving average is $274.16.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. State Street Corp boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $266,865,000 after purchasing an additional 12,479 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $201,728,000 after buying an additional 20,537 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $152,085,000 after buying an additional 20,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,810 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $172,654,000 after acquiring an additional 34,032 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $106,201,000 after acquiring an additional 63,159 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.