Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AYI. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of AYI traded down $1.21 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $300.69. 208,622 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 255,138. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $158.80 and a 52-week high of $312.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $278.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.33. The firm has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $83,430,000 after purchasing an additional 271,485 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $79,755,000 after buying an additional 215,547 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the second 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 during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,306,000 after acquiring an additional 107,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $25,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.