Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $320.00 to $336.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.35% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Acuity Brands in a report on Monday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.20.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $9.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $312.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 552,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 503,714. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $315.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.91. Acuity Brands has a 52 week low of $214.32 and a 52 week high of $337.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 23.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $266,865,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 2.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $201,728,000 after buying an additional 20,537 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $152,085,000 after buying an additional 20,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,810 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $172,654,000 after acquiring an additional 34,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $106,201,000 after acquiring an additional 63,159 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.