Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

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

AYI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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 lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target on the stock. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI opened at $305.19 on Friday. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $337.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $315.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.72 earnings per share. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’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 transaction 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 trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $581,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,377,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,323 shares during 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 worth $14,602,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.