Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $369.79, but opened at $341.86. Acuity shares last traded at $320.26, with a volume of 320,752 shares.

More Acuity News

Here are the key news stories impacting Acuity this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations — Acuity reported adjusted EPS of $4.69 (beat) and delivered ~20% net sales growth and higher adjusted operating profit, which underscores healthy demand and margin expansion. Acuity Reports Fiscal 2026 First-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management emphasized strategic financial moves and improved adjusted diluted EPS and margins on the earnings call, supporting the thesis of profitable growth. Acuity Inc (AYI) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Revenue came in roughly in line with expectations (~$1.14B), so top-line performance supported the beat but did not materially surprise on upside. Acuity Brands’s Q4 CY2025 Earnings Results
• Neutral Sentiment: FY26 guidance was updated to EPS $19.00–$20.50 and revenue $4.7B–$4.9B — a range that brackets the Street but introduces some uncertainty around cadence and the midpoint. Investors are parsing the range rather than seeing a crisp upside revision. (Guidance referenced in company materials and call.) Earnings Slide Deck / Call
• Negative Sentiment: Management flagged a Q2 seasonality shift and backlog normalization — items that can temper near-term growth expectations and lead investors to re-evaluate the pace of revenue recovery. Acuity signals Q2 seasonality shift and highlights 20% net sales growth amid backlog normalization
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts trimmed near-term estimates (e.g., Zacks adjustments), and commentary that the guidance range is wider than ideal added selling pressure for traders focused on precision. Acuity (AYI) Q1 Earnings: How Key Metrics Compare to Wall Street Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market weakness (Nasdaq pullback) also weighed on sentiment for cyclical/tech-linked names like AYI, amplifying reactions to the mixed company-specific news. Nasdaq Falls Over 100 Points; Acuity Posts Upbeat Earnings

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AYI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research downgraded Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Acuity from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price target on Acuity in a research note on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.67.

Acuity Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $361.70 and a 200-day moving average of $339.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $4.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.24. Acuity had a net margin of 9.04% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total transaction of $1,724,862.87. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 10,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,880,665.45. This represents a 30.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 8,338.5% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in Acuity during the first quarter valued at approximately $379,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Acuity by 17.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 76,543 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $20,158,000 after purchasing an additional 11,144 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Acuity by 103.0% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 158,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity by 20.7% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,533 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $7,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Company Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.