Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) shares saw strong trading volume on Thursday . 98,183 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the previous session’s volume of 261,888 shares.The stock last traded at $246.38 and had previously closed at $239.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.75.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $254.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 20.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.44.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $68,686,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $187,987,000 after buying an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Vision One Management Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $21,901,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at $25,188,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $139,667,000 after buying an additional 89,192 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.