Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target Increased to $303.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its price target increased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $266.00 to $303.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.05% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $0.51 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $299.86. 129,528 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 253,918. The company has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $156.84 and a 1-year high of $303.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s 50 day moving average is $249.68 and its 200-day moving average is $253.45.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 14.7% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.