Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Shares Gap Up to $275.39

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $275.39, but opened at $290.02. Acuity Brands shares last traded at $293.56, with a volume of 43,149 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $286.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $248.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $253.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,332,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 81.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,234 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,988,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,764 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $387,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the second quarter worth approximately $430,000. 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.