Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $317.60.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in Acuity Brands by 56.0% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 12.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,642 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $279,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 213.4% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,040 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 3,432 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 8,610 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,371,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $229.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $300.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.16%.

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.