Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target Raised to $303.00

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its target price hoisted by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $266.00 to $303.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 1.05% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

AYI stock traded up $0.51 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $299.86. 129,528 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 253,918. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $249.68 and a 200-day moving average of $253.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a PE ratio of 24.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands has a 1 year low of $156.84 and a 1 year high of $303.04.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,149,459 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $235,444,000 after acquiring an additional 45,666 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 2.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $201,728,000 after purchasing an additional 20,537 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $152,085,000 after buying an additional 20,832 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $106,201,000 after acquiring an additional 63,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 107,171 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.