Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $289.25.

AYI has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AYI stock opened at $260.84 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $258.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $149.30 and a 1-year high of $272.74. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.47.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The company had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.01 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aurora Investment Counsel increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,938 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 19.1% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 349 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 58 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.