Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 991,500 shares, a growth of 28.6% from the February 28th total of 771,200 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 339,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE AYI traded up $1.85 on Monday, hitting $263.82. 520,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 278,447. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $300.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $304.50.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.01%.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,210,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 951 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $330.60.

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.