Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Cut to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $260.00 price target on the electronics maker’s stock, down from their previous price target of $295.00.

AYI has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $241.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.44. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $154.72 and a 52-week high of $272.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $254.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $244.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business had revenue of $968.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 14.16 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 18th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.88%.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $320,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 54,664 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $9,310,000 after buying an additional 14,392 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 31.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 154,905 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $26,382,000 after buying an additional 36,949 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 53.9% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,450 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 16,132 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently 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.