Brokerages Set Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Target Price at $341.40

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $341.40.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE AYI opened at $328.11 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. Acuity Brands has a one year low of $217.64 and a one year high of $345.30. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $316.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $288.57.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 15.7 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.