Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Stock Rating Lowered by Wells Fargo & Company

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $260.00 price objective on the electronics maker’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $295.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 7.69% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $241.44 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $254.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.77. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $154.72 and a 1-year high of $272.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.44.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 14.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SG Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,699,000. EULAV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $9,943,000. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $376,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Acuity Brands by 291.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,752,000 after buying an additional 4,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at $1,706,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.