StockNews.com Downgrades Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Acuity Brands in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $305.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $337.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $315.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $280.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $581,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,377,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 49,449 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $14,602,000 after buying an additional 2,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.