Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

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

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $317.88. 191,158 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 255,994. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $315.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $199.47 and a 1-year high of $337.99. The company has a market cap of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The business 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands 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 owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently 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.