Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Raised to Outperform at William Blair

William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI opened at $301.60 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $314.73 and its 200 day moving average is $278.38. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $201.88 and a 12-month high of $337.99.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Acuity Brands by 17.4% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 13,937 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,068 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the second quarter worth $238,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Acuity Brands by 105.8% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,363 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,916,000 after purchasing an additional 10,470 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Acuity Brands by 1.8% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,622 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,082,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 11.0% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 29,170 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,893 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.