Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Downgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

AYI opened at $241.57 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $154.72 and a twelve month high of $272.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $244.16.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The business had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 14.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AYI. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $320,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth $414,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 54,664 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $9,310,000 after purchasing an additional 14,392 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 154,905 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $26,382,000 after acquiring an additional 36,949 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 53.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,450 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $588,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.