Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Short Interest Update

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,180,000 shares, a growth of 8.3% from the March 31st total of 1,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 234,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days. Currently, 3.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $246.02 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $257.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.03. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $149.30 and a 52-week high of $272.74. The company has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.49.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 19.5% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,783 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth $661,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 36.5% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,869 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,190,000 after acquiring an additional 3,175 shares during the period. Claret Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth $227,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at $237,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.