Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $289.25.

AYI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target 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. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th.

Insider Activity

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of 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. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,365,821 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $573,233,000 after acquiring an additional 17,459 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,149,459 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $235,444,000 after buying an additional 45,666 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $143,907,000 after buying an additional 247,774 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 12.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $139,667,000 after buying an additional 89,192 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 35.8% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $120,585,000 after acquiring an additional 187,128 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE AYI opened at $260.84 on Friday. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month high of $272.74. The stock has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $258.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $223.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. On average, research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

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.