Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target Lowered to $280.00 at Robert W. Baird

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its price target trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $286.00 to $280.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $287.75.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $250.04 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $154.72 and a twelve month high of $272.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $256.42 and its 200-day moving average is $241.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.44.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. The company had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.01 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Maya Leibman purchased 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,938 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 349 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 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.