Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target Lowered to $290.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its price objective decreased by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $336.00 to $290.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 9.86% from the company’s previous close.

AYI has been the subject of several other reports. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $330.60.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.4 %

Acuity Brands stock traded down $3.84 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $263.98. 48,759 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 266,526. Acuity Brands has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $303.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.57.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.72 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 192.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,615 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,697 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 7,245 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,116,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,601,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.0% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.