StockNews.com Upgrades Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) to “Strong-Buy”

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI traded down $1.21 on Thursday, hitting $300.69. 208,622 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 255,138. The company has a 50 day moving average of $278.81 and a 200-day moving average of $259.33. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $158.80 and a 12-month high of $312.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,050,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.5% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 14.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,541 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.