Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Stock Rating Upgraded by William Blair

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was upgraded by analysts at William Blair from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI opened at $292.13 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $314.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $277.94. The firm has a market cap of $9.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.74, 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 fifty-two week low of $200.27 and a fifty-two week high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.74 EPS. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,849,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 95,551 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $26,314,000 after purchasing an additional 18,919 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $83,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at about $31,026,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $33,000. 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.