Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on AYI. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Acuity Brands in a report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of AYI stock opened at $305.19 on Friday. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $337.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $315.23 and its 200-day moving average is $280.89.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $581,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Private Client Services LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,377,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its position in Acuity Brands by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 49,449 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $14,602,000 after acquiring an additional 2,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.