Robert W. Baird Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Stock Price

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its target price dropped by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from $340.00 to $310.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 18.12% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $262.44 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $301.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands has a 52 week low of $217.64 and a 52 week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,849,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $232,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 213.4% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,040 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 3,432 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $19,703,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,642 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by 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.