Morgan Stanley Begins Coverage on Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI)

Equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) in a note issued to investors on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target on the electronics maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AYI. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $320.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $304.00 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $314.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $278.78. Acuity Brands has a 1 year low of $204.34 and a 1 year high of $337.99.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 187.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $79,755,000 after purchasing an additional 215,547 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the 2nd 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. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,026,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after acquiring an additional 107,171 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 owned by 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.