Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Lowered to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

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

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on AYI. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Monday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI opened at $312.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $315.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.14. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $214.32 and a fifty-two week high of $337.99. The firm has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $41,934,000 after buying an additional 135,350 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $31,026,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,306,000 after purchasing an additional 107,171 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $106,201,000 after purchasing an additional 63,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 296.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 47,559 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $11,493,000 after purchasing an additional 35,556 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.