Robert W. Baird Raises Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target to $318.00

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its target price increased by Robert W. Baird from $280.00 to $318.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $306.77 on Wednesday. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $156.84 and a 1-year high of $307.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $252.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $254.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 14.26 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 4.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.