Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Robert W. Baird Analyst Says

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) had its price objective upped by Robert W. Baird from $315.00 to $335.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $340.60.

Acuity Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of AYI opened at $303.86 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $263.22 and its 200 day moving average is $282.14. Acuity has a fifty-two week low of $216.81 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Acuity’s payout ratio is 5.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Durable Capital Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $317,977,000 after buying an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,236,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Acuity by 29,415.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $59,852,000 after acquiring an additional 226,501 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Acuity by 103.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 312,904 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $82,403,000 after acquiring an additional 158,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Acuity by 34.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $157,910,000 after acquiring an additional 157,790 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity 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.