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

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) saw a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,210,000 shares, a drop of 9.0% from the September 15th total of 1,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 235,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.1 days. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:AYI traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $305.45. The stock had a trading volume of 59,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,162. The business’s 50 day moving average is $264.08 and its 200-day moving average is $256.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands has a one year low of $156.84 and a one year high of $312.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.88%.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 14.7% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,541 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $613,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.2% during the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,465 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

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.