Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $323.00.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AYI. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Monday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective 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, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Acuity Brands from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 3.0 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $312.99 on Thursday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $315.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.91. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $214.32 and a 1-year high of $337.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.29, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $266,865,000 after acquiring an additional 12,479 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.5% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $152,085,000 after purchasing an additional 20,832 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,810 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $172,654,000 after buying an additional 34,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $106,201,000 after buying an additional 63,159 shares during 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.