Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $341.40.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AYI shares. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $267.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $310.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $303.15.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.72 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AYI. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 192.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,615 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,640,000 after buying an additional 3,697 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 7,245 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,116,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $8,601,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $79,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Acuity Brands by 63.0% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Company Profile

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.